


Dead in Dallas

by mrsdb



Category: Southern Vampire Mysteries - Charlaine Harris, True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Exes, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fanfiction, Gen, Multi, Other, Romance, Strong Female Characters, Vampire Family, Vampires, fairy vampire romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-07 19:31:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12847986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsdb/pseuds/mrsdb
Summary: What would happen if Sookie met Godric while she was dying?





	1. Dead

The first chapter was originally written by  _Demon Flame_  called  **I Died in Dallas**  and it was written at fanfiction.net. I liked the story but apparently, the original author may have lost interest in writing this story and said as much when it was announced at the end of the second chapter. The author encouraged someone to pick up the story and normally I would never do this out sheer laziness and lack of creativity. But since I've always been fascinated with writing, I figured rewriting parts and continuing a story might work for a beginner like me.  _Words_  and  _application_  will change but the original _main idea_ of the  first chapter is there.  This will be unedited so please be as kind as you allow yourself to be.

**Thank You**! 

 

* * *

 

" _Death is not the greatest loss in life._  
_The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live_."   
-Norman Cousins

 

 

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me through the woods, I needed to put as much distance between me and the burial ground I just clawed out of. I stumbled out of the dense, woody thicket of tree line onto the crude black asphalt looking like a deranged wild woman. At least that's the description I gathered from an unspoken thought coming from a pick-up truck swerving towards me, along with a few explicit expressions that clearly came from the male driver. I suppose it was a good thing there had been no one driving behind him and that he had his headlights on in the dimming light of the day.

I ran to his passenger side window that had been rolled down frantically begging to unlock his truck.

"Please! Let me in! Someone's after me!" Despite looking like a dirty tortured victim that obviously merited my frantic state, he was hesitant; he wasn't sure if he could risk helping me without turning into a victim himself.

"Please, I-" Tears brimmed and a sob choked out of me unintentionally, now that I wasn't running anymore, my emotions were spilling out.

"I think I need to go to the hospital." I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that whoever tried to bury me wasn't close by. I'm sure I've eluded my attacker since I haven't heard anyone trailing behind me but the silence didn't alleviate my terror. Sympathy carried on to the man's resolve ending his inner turmoil and he unlocked his truck.

"Get in." I climb the step rail and frantically thrust myself into the passenger seat, banging my head on the side of the roof of the truck.

"Fudge!" I exclaim cradling my head in my arms as I'm hunched over trying to stop the reverberating pain in my head, luckily it's a welcome distraction in preventing my tears from slipping out.

The truck resumed its movement and accelerated as the driver gave me a moment to recover while stealing glances and taking notice of my barefoot soil covered self. It wasn't till we turned and merged onto a highway a few minutes later when my rescuer decided to ask the inevitable.

"What happened to you, girl? Who's after you?" _I hope she didn't get involved with a fanger. How old is she? Fuck! I hope that brown spot's not blood, was she raped?_

"I...I honestly don't remember." I replied dejectedly trying to conjure up any memory I could before waking up beneath a loosely compacted soil a few minutes ago. Not only did someone bury me, but someone else was buried with me and had tried to prevent me from escaping. I shuddered at the memory of a hand grabbing the extremity of my foot, trying to pull me back to my grave. I could still feel the weight of that hand which was built like a steel and even felt as cold as one. I was lucky it wasn't my ankle that was grabbed because I would never have escaped then.

"Someone tried to bury me...but I'm not sure why or who did it," I reveal to my concerned rescuer. He was thinking of serial killers, cannibals, and vampires-which surprisingly was parallel to the dark path my mind was heading. I could feel sadness and indecisiveness rolling off of him. He wanted to console me somehow but wasn't sure how to go about doing it without opening my emotional floodgates. I thought that was touching enough and I really didn't care for reassurances since it'll only be pointless and won't help my present situation. But I felt the need to reward his thoughtfulness with an assurance that I'll be fine regardless the dread that's settled deep within me.

"I don't think I'm badly injured though." I check my appendages for good measure despite the fact that I was sure nothing was really broken. I do a quick internal sweep for pain, finding none and noting that my bare feet weren't even hurting from running through the woods which I'm finding odd.

I studied my rescuer's countenance, who introduced himself as Leonard Polk, and took note of his appearance just in case I find myself in another bizarre situation where I might need to recall his description. He seems like he's in his mid-thirties, average in height, a few inches taller than me perhaps, stocky build, and if it weren't for his double chin, I'd say that he could be Paul Rudd's doppelganger. Leonard grabbed his phone from the console between us and called the police informing them of my situation and letting them know that he was taking me to Christus Mother Frances Hospital. I thought that was strange, I've never heard of that particular hospital before and I don't think I know where it's at, which I revealed as much to Leonard when I asked him about it.

"It's the biggest one in Tyler" he replied but continued when he saw confusion in my face.

"There's not a whole lot of hospitals there but I'm sure you'll be well taken care of."

"Tyler...Texas?" I ask slowly, dreading the unfamiliarity of my location. It's bad enough that I find myself in an unwanted precarious situation which I have no recollection how I ended up in, now I'm in a different state, in an unknown setting to add to my growing list of bizarre circumstance. Leonard glanced at me, catching on to the way my voice hitched when I mentioned Texas.

"Yes. Right now we're on i20 outside of Lindale heading towards Tyler." He explains in detail so I could grasp my location as if knowing that I needed something to ground and comfort me considering the confusing shit storm I'm in. It did help me some but it still didn't pacify the fact that I'm not in Louisiana, within metaphorical reach of Gran, Jason, and the familiarity of my friends.

"But... I live in Louisiana." I mull out loud just to answer his unspoken question without him having to ask. "Don't you worry sweetheart, the police'll find who did this to you" he says with sincerity rolling off of him. I nodded absently and mumbled my thanks but said nothing further as we drove. After listening to Leonard internally fuss and worry over me and the gravity of my situation which I found comforting, I put my mental shield up to relax since I'm sure that I wasn't in any danger around him.

I watched the rays of the sun disappear over the horizon out of my window and thought of the hand that had grabbed me. The possibility of what that hand could belong to was dissolving my denial, I'm almost sure, and with the present evidence, that it was a vampire's hand. Who else would bury themselves knowing they couldn't breathe underneath the soil? And considering the size of the hand and the thickness of the fingers, I'm guessing it was a male vampire. But why would a vampire burry me... unless- suddenly disturbing apprehension overwhelms me and something in my chest drops.

_Unless he tried to turn me into one. Fudge!_

How vampires get turned wasn't really a secret anymore, it was a common knowledge that spread after vampires 'came out of the coffin' so to speak. A vampire trying to turn me over seems like a reasonable explanation to my situation except I'm not a vampire. Am I? No, if I was I would've burned as soon as I climbed out of the grave. Plus the sun's still out and I'm still here, and it's not like I'm wanting to bathe in blood. After all, It was another common knowledge that newborn vampires are bloodthirsty, something I am thankfully not feeling at all. If a vampire did try to turn me, I guess it just didn't work in which I probably have my disability to thank for, for once.

I thumbed the hem of my once white tee shirt that was now brown and muddied with dirt and dried blood. I pondered why I wasn't wearing my bomber jacket anymore and every kind of situation that could've led me to be buried with a vampire and possibly almost turned into one. And that's how I remembered Sam and Dallas...

"I was at the Food Safety Summit & Expo in Dallas!" I blurt out causing Leonard to swerve out of the lane in alarm to my sudden proclamation.

I heard him say fuck before he said it out loud and as soon as he gathered his wits he wanted to chastise me for almost causing an accident but instead settled with, "The one that was held at The Marriot Hotel in downtown? Three days ago?"

"Yes! That's the one! Wait...what do you mean three days ago?" I ask fearfully. If it has been three days then poor Sam must be worried sick and possibly upset that I've been gone for that long without calling him.

"The expo ended three days ago, I'd know, I was staying at my sister's in Dallas and we couldn't even get to the Cork in West Village cause of all the traffic with the Expo." Leonard looks at me with pity thinking that people were probably thinking the worst has happened to me.

"Do you want to call someone? Where you with someone at that expo? They're probably looking for you."

"You're right! I went with my boss Sam Merlotte. He's probably worried sick and probably already called my g-- gran! I oughtta call her first instead." I turn to Leonard to borrow his phone, the cab was almost completely dark now as the last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon.

He holds out his phone but my eyes couldn't look away from his pulsing artery just below his ears. It was strangely hypnotizing to watch the way it was thumping, it's such a tiny little vein but plays such a major role in circulating the blood in the body. It's pulsing to the rhythm of his heartbeat and by the diameter of that artery and the speed it's moving, I can tell that he's well hydrated. Somehow I knew that if I were to cut that artery open, blood would stream freely which would sedate my thirst faster.

As soon as I acknowledged it, pain from hunger consumed me. My mouth went painfully dry and I had to bite down hard to alleviate the itch in my gums. My tongue hovered in my mouth, unable to touch its sandy casing, I need to relieve the pain in my mouth and I knew blood would help.

"Hey, girl, are you alright? You look a little distraught." He said. I answer with a head shake since I can't talk, my mouth was too painfully dry for that and I was too painfully hungry to waste my energy in explaining it to him, I doubt he understands.

Alarms were going off in my head warning me against where my dark nonsensical thoughts were heading, begging me to think logically, but the pain spreading within me overpowered whatever morals I had left. Anybody who could feel this hunger would understand. I look at him in the eyes, telling him without words to understand that I just want a little blood to help pacify my ever-growing need

I felt my teeth elongate, pushing and tearing my gums which just intensifies my need to bite like a puppy needing a soft toy to chew. "Oh, fuc-" I launch myself across the console before he could even finish that word, and I bit down over the beckoning artery in his neck right before the truck swerved for the third time and finally crashed into a ditch on the side of the road. Leonard had a hand on my chin and hair trying to pull me away from him, but his tugging didn't distract from the orgasmic relief his blood provided to my stomach and especially my mouth. I moaned with every mouthful of blood I sucked from him as I could feel it traveling and coating everything it touches within me, tingling its way into my stomach filling me with warmth and waking up my senses. I was high for the first time in my life and I wanted more.

I hadn't realized till we both fell and my teeth unlatched that Leonard managed to open his car door and stumble out with me falling awkwardly to my face while he fell on his back. He tried heaving away from me but he was weak, lightheaded, and clumsy. I straightened up, pulled him by his collar and punched his round stomach and he went out like a rag doll. He was limp and normally with his dead weight I would've injured myself if he fell on me, but with my newfound strength I held him up against the side of the truck and took another bite from another artery that wasn't damaged and deflated like the first one.

My uninterrupted time drinking from him is how I've imagined slow lovemaking would be like. It's sweet, intense, and satisfying except for the fact that I was left miserably unsatisfied and in dire need to have him inside me. Had I an inkling of what I was really doing, I would've stopped and walked away but I found absolutely nothing wrong with my actions. Besides, I justified my reason with the fact that he was out and no one would know what I've done. Couple that with the fact that I heard Leonard thinking that he found me attractive when he was assessing the severity of my injuries earlier, I figured he wouldn't mind when he woke up.

I stopped feeding and had my left hand holding him up against the truck while my right was working his belt off and trying to get his pants and boxers down. When his pants and boxers were lowered to his knees, I used my foot to shove it lower to his ankles. I assessed him for a minute wondering if it's possible to have sex with someone as limp as he was. I wrapped my hand around his dick and started tugging, thinking I could probably get it hard.

A hand enclosed at the base of my neck behind me and ripped me away from my crude act and even more vile thoughts and had me drop Leonard limply to the ground. The same hand pinned me face flat against the side of the truck as I tried to claw and kick behind me in a blood induced haze, ready to rip this person to shreds for thwarting my need for sex and blood.

"As your maker, I command you to keep still." My body, controlled by an unshakable will stood in attention as if my animalistic craze didn't exist just a second before. My bloodlust dimmed and my clarity restored to me once more except for a small part of my humanity which seemed to have diminished some with my newfound perspective as a predator.

I realized that he called himself my maker before laying a magical command that apparently my body has to willfully obey. I have no prior knowledge of any vampire law or hierarchy but it didn't take a genius to realize that not only this vampire created me but he was stronger than I, both in strength and in accordance to our vampiric nature.

The hand that held me let up and let go of me but I had no control over my body to turn and face my maker. Losing control of my will was a nightmare to any person who values their independence, but there was a strange comforting spark that blossomed from the pit of my stomach and I knew it was from my maker's voice and proximity.

His voice was an enigma, it was young in pitch and timbre but old with its weight and assertion. Hearing it was like a feeling of déjà vu- playfully taunting me with the best intentions and fueling the feeling of familiarity or a pleasantly fabricated memory I cannot recall. The impression it leaves me is intense, like a happy childhood or falling in love.

My overwhelming and confounding feeling ceases and is replaced with something more enlightening as I hear him speak again, a mumble really but the command placed with it is clear and direct and not at all intended towards me. His slightly accented voice instructed Leonard to present himself decently and to call the police and report he had an accident, blacked out and told him not to remember a thing which I found odd. How can someone instruct another to not remember what happened unless you're persuasive as a hyp-  _a hypnotist!_

Are vampires able to hypnotize others or is it just my maker that has that special kind of skill? Maybe it's a hobby he picked up along the way seeing its a usefulness, especially if your a predator to humans. I went on to wonder other things such as my maker's possible age, origin, and name when he turned his command to me as he did before.

"As your maker, I command you to do as you will." With that said, I turned around to face a boy. If it weren't for a thin crease of a line around his mouth I'd say he's just a teenager, maybe even close to the legal drinking age. but despite the fact that time left my maker's face young and untouched, something in his air and gaze told me that he was ancient. He never took his eyes off of mine yet somehow I knew that he was painfully aware and is anticipating the smallest movement I have yet to make.

He was radiant despite the darkness, his height was a few inch within my line of sight but it didn't diminish his substantial presence which rooted me to my core.

Gran has always told me that she trusted my instinct to survive because I always knew when to hold my tongue or to stand up and give someone a proper lashing. But despite knowing whether or not danger was in front of me, I can proudly say that I've never let fear take a hold of me. Even though intuition was telling me to bow and show respect, I straightened my back and relaxed my stance, watching my maker study me. I felt curiosity and pride roll off of him, tugging my chest and evoking the same feeling from within me.

I took my time assessing him from head to toe starting with his stance, which side of the body he shifts his weight to, the bulk of his arms and his chest. His soil dusted loose linen shirt accentuating his chest but hiding the rest of him as it flows freely below the belt. Familiar blue tattoos are lined around his chest and arms hinting but not telling how much of him is really covered.

My mind's reeling back decades even centuries trying to remember what era and culture I've seen his tattoos from.

Growing up from my neck of the woods in Bon Temps, I was considered country enough that most people thought I was lacking substance from the neck up. Aside from my "crazy" streak, I was thought of nothing more than a dumb redneck blonde only good for show and nothing else. Of course no one actually knew I could hear their thoughts, but despite the fact that they were unaware of the hurtful effect their unspoken words would bring to me, I resolved to put on a smile and to prove them wrong by attaining knowledge through encyclopedias and dictionaries, Gran even gave me a word of the day calendar.

Encyclopedias were always fascinating to me because it taught me to be mindful of history and fascinated me with other culture that I would never have come by living in my small hometown. And it's actually because of something I've read in one of those encyclopedia that gave me the gut feeling that his tattoos were old enough to be called ancient.

"You may call me by my given name which is Godric, Sookie" he spoke calmly, as someone who has no fears, worries, or any negative annotation would. As if we stood at a place where time didn't exist and would only resume only if he commands it to, as if Leonard hadn't called the police a minute ago under his command.

And although men who think like that should be feared, the strange connection I feel towards him: the comfort, clarity and the euphoric familial love has me gravitating towards him instead.

_How old is he? tha_ t thought was a puzzle I felt myself begin to obsess over. I could easily ask him but I didn't want to come off as rude, especially not to a stranger who not only has piqued my interest but someone I felt the need to impress.

"Tell me, daughter, what is the cause of your slight agitation?" Even though there's an obvious detachment to his voice, I can tell he was trying to get me to say something to him which only magnified my rude behavior.

"I'm sorry...Godric" I test his name out loud for the first time. "I don't mean to be rude but how do you know my name and why did you turn me?" I added the latter as an afterthought after realizing that I didn't prioritize my question correctly, the second should've been my first question.

He studied me for a while, aware and as intrigued by my temporary amnesia as a blind person would be to a color.

"You gave me your name when I found you after two women beat you with every inch of your life. I only approached you because I found your blood and smell enticing and you were dying. I had asked whether you wanted me to deliver revenge for you but you said you'd rather do it yourself, and you managed to smile despite the crack on your cheekbone. I saw then that although they have beaten you to the death's door, you were never broken. I saw strength in you that could only be comparable and paralleled to a courage I've only seen once before, over a thousand years ago. I found you intriguing, so I gave you my blood and with it life in the darkness."

I wasn't sure how to process the information he provided except I did appreciate his explanation. it was something we both knew he didn't have to indulge me with. Despite that, I had to ask, "Was I given a choice?"

something flickered within him and I felt it. if only for a minuscule moment. "No Sookie, I'm afraid my impulse was conducted with greed, you lost consciousness before I could ask and for that, I apologize." he conveys with weight in his words which I assumed his way of being sincere. The old me would probably be bristling by now, but something in me understood.

I understood his perspective with the situation, understood his intrigue in me as if I saw myself from his eyes, and most importantly, understood that he could not be blamed for me turning into something I couldn't fathom becoming. and upon realizing that, I was afraid for my freedom and that my mind and feelings might not be my own anymore.

"I see you have much to contemplate and we will have more conversations about this. Come, Let us talk about this somewhere private and where you can tend to your comfort."

And with that, he entered my personal bubble and took my hand and wrapped it around his neck as he picked me up like a bride about to step into a threshold. A shift in movement and when I looked around he was carrying me across the sky.

_Holy fudging crap, Godric could fly._

 


	2. Understanding

" _Speaking comes by nature, silence by understanding._ "   
-Old Proverbs

 

I thought clouds were a mass in a particular state of matter that you could stand next to and observe as a whole like a smoke ring. I know it sure looked like that when Sam and I were on the plane on our way to Dallas and looking at the clouds from inside out, I could've sworn that they seemed dense and heavy. Instead, clouds are like projections, something to see but always out of reach. You dive right into it and it seems like you're getting closer but you're already inside it and it'll never get close enough. It's like being surrounded by the thickest fog you can't even imagine, the air around you is stifling and something about it feels eerie. Except now with my acute vision, I see the beauty in clouds that no human eyes can—they sparkle like Edward Cullen.

Godric can somehow sense the wonder within me every time we go through the clouds and it seems that my maker has made it his mission to go through every one we pass, luckily it's a cloudy evening. However, the beauty hidden within the clouds can't equal the beauty of heavens through the eyes of a vampire. It's like having a telescope on a plane, the distance from the ground to up here in the sky really makes a difference in how well you can see the beauty shown by the cosmos.

It's like what I see being engulfed by the clouds but much more colorful, brighter, intense, and massive. Where the clouds are like drinking a glass of water, the night sky is like being submerged in the ocean--It's stifling, humbling, and boundless.

After what seems like minutes of enjoying the simple extravagance the night sky had to offer, Godric descends. If I were still human, I would've clung onto him screaming his ears off and clawing at him, never trusting his arms with safety. Instead, I release my arms, encircling my maker's neck and extend it as Rose had from Titanic with Jack behind her. 

I closed my eyes and imagined myself falling down as I've done too many times in my dreams, but this time It's elevating because I know I won't be falling to my doom-- someone's already holding me in the safety of his arms; I had nothing to fear.

We landed delicately enough that if it weren't for lack of headwind against my body, I would have never known. My hands found their place back behind his neck as I open my eyes to find Godric studying me.  He had such kind and beady eyes that I couldn't fear him, even if he wasn't my maker.

"Did I show fear? When I was dying I mean," I wondered to him as I feel him walking with such ease that I wasn't even ashamed of staying in his arms, he was stronger than me after all, and I was basking in the comfort our relationship provided.

A ghost of a smile tilted a corner of his lips.   
"No my child you did not, you would have died a warrior," He replied stopping in front of a door. I wasn't sure if he wanted me to or not but I went ahead and swung my legs off his arms and stood on my own as the door opened to reveal an older, exotic, beautiful woman. 

"Sheriff, you've returned." She greeted with a slight bow and turned to assess me with curiosity and nodded my way as a sign of acceptance as she sidestepped opening the door for us wider. I made a mental note to ask Godric about his title.

"Isabel this is my newly made progeny  Sookie. Sookie this is Isabel, my deputy."  _Another title to_ _add_ _to my list of questions!_  I thought as Godric introduced us and I offered my hand to her.   
  
"It's very nice to meet you, Isabel!" Vampire or not, I was not about to shame Gran with my manners even in death.

"It's nice to meet you too Sookie and may I say that you are just lovely." She mirrored a matching smile but looked at my offered hand and raised an eyebrow. That was clear enough for me and I was not dumb enough to realize that shaking hands was apparently not a thing with vampires and I clearly had just made my first vampire etiquette faux pas. In my defense, I was only a regular American human just a few nights ago and as far as I know, we Americans like to shake hands--  _At least now I know,_ I thought to myself walking towards the living area but not before I said my thanks.

Her accent was definitely Spaniard and just as exotic as she was and I enjoyed listening to her talk whenever she does. She was about my height at five foot seven and carried herself with respect not only for her own self but definitely for Godric which seemed to have carried on to me: his creation. Something in their dynamic shows me that she is absolutely loyal to him and he does not seem abusive of her loyalty which I took note of and admired him for.

I went in and assessed the minimalistic contemporary living room which I assumed carried on to the rest of the house. The room was a mixture of large open spaces, timeless sculptures from ancient times, modern wall decors, and earthy textured pieces scattered throughout. Everything was subtle, individually unique, and went together harmoniously. 

"Who lives here?" I ask but suspecting that regardless who lives here, Isabel had a hand in balancing everything together as per evidence with her sleek and classic fashion sense.

"I share a nest with my most trusted underlings Isabel and Stan, and now my child with you," He turns and nods to Isabel, "Isabel will show you to your quarters so that you can clean up. When you are done you may seek me out in my office" he points with a tip of his head indicating the opposite side of the fireplace, "and I will answer your questions." And with that, he turns and walks towards the said office. 

"Well ok then..." I turn to follow Isabel who was already heading towards a hallway, Instructing me about catalogues and room decorations as she leads me to a door "...from any of the stores you might be interested in, is in the drawer to the left of the bed and just circle what you want and I'll take care of it ok?" She paused by the door to let me pass and I nod to her in understanding. 

"Thanks, Isabel for everything but I actually would rather weigh in my options first whether I really want to stay here or not. I still have my Gran at home and I have perfectly good clothes there too," I smiled at her trying to show gratitude and sincerity. "Very well, whatever you need let me know regardless." 

Before she turned away completely I remembered I had to call Gran so I asked her if I could borrow a phone which she handed hers without an inquisition, and I accepted gratefully before shutting the door. I figured they could hear my phone call regardless but closing the door was more for my metaphorical comfort than privacy.

I check the time on her phone and find that it's only eight thirty-seven on a Friday night, which means Gran would most likely be at home probably doing her nightly routine around the house so she could get settled in bed to read a book before bedtime. After three rings Gran picked up the phone, sounding dilapidated which would have broken my heart if it were still beating. despite her sadness, she still managed to implement her polite southern manners she's always instilled in me.

"Good evening, Stackhouse residence Adele speaking?" I didn't know what to say...I might have been over thinking it but I didn't want her to have a heart attack or chastise me and I wasn't sure how'd she feel about me being a vampire...

"Hello? Is anybody there?" She continued and before I could think, I cleared my throat and just jumped in.

"Gran? It's me...Sookie" I added my name for good measure just in case she won't believe me but the long silence at the other end of the line had me worrying that maybe she hung up instead.

"Sookie?! Is that really you?" A choked sob from her and when I answered with a yes ma'am the way she's always taught me before, the sob turned into a crying fit.

"Gran? Please don't cry. I'm really sorry I didn't call before...yo-" 

"What happened to you Sookie?! Why didn't you call! If not me then why haven't you at least called your brother! We were worried sick! We thought you were dead!" She went on, her voice rising with each word that I wondered how she's not yelling at this point.

"Look, I swear to you Gran I never intended to do this to you and you know I would never do this without reaching out to you somehow. It's just that...there was an implication and it led to something awful to happen which I would honestly rather speak to you in person about it. I didn't have a way of contacting you or anybody until just now and I'm only calling you to let you know that I'm still here in Dallas and planning on heading back soon, I'm not hurt, and I just want you to know that I love you." I explain to Gran in detail without actually having to say anything further and I could tell she's accepted what I offered and she's trying not to get to upset on the phone.

"I understand dear, and thank the Lord you are ok sweetheart. I'm so happy to hear you're not--" 

"Gran? you alright there?" 

"I'm here Sookie. I'm just happy hearing your voice is all. When do you think you'll be back sweetheart?" She asked, her voice hopeful and sounding better off than earlier. 

"hopeful tomorrow evening Gran" 

"ok that's go-- that's good. Now I understand you would rather tell me everything later on but tell me honestly Sookie... are you in l any kind trouble?" Gran asks as her voice lowered as if afraid to be heard. 

"no ma'am, I'm not" I assure her. making sure my sincerity carries on through the phone. 

"I promise I'm ok"  _now at least_. I could tell she's doubtful considering my lack of communication til now. knowing Gran, she's most likely going to be pondering and obsessing about what I have said and what I didn't say. 

"ok sweetheart.... just keep me informed and call me if you can't see me tomorrow night ok?" I answered in agreement and there was a pause and she asked "now... are you gonna be able to call your brother? you know he's gonna be upset with you and will probably be here wanting to hear you explain yourself," Gran informs me knowing Jason's protective streak over me despite the fact I'm more mature than him. 

"I'm sorry Gran but I've got someone waiting for me to talk something about. I'd hate to ask but.... well, would it be ok if you talk to him and I honestly wouldn't mind seeing him too." I hear her sigh shakily over the phone but agree anyways since she thought that it would be rude to have someone wait for me. 

"Alright Sookie, just give me a call. I'm thankful your safe and I love you sweetheart." She sniffs, probably trying to rein in on herself. 

"I love you too Gran." I reply before we hang up.

As I proceed to get cleaned up, hearing Gran's voice had me feeling some of my humanity that I must've suppressed and I cried as was getting cleaned up and got dressed with the clothes Isabel had left out for me on the bed. I cried for a part of me that's been lost, I cried for almost raping and attacking Leonard, and I cried for losing the experience of bearing my own children, and never having the possibility of getting the family I've always dreamed of. Heck, I've never even gone as far as holding a guy's hands thanks to my annoying disability and the strange men I'm apparently surrounded by.

By the time I got out of the room and seeking Godric out in his study, my emotions were on lockdown and I was ready to tackle my new life as a vampire. I stood next to the fireplace waiting for my maker to acknowledge me out of respect since his office was lacking a door.

"Please Sookie, come sit" he indicates with a nod to a white leather chair closest to his desk without having to look up from a paper he was reading from. I do as I'm told and survey the room once I've sat down but there was nothing much to see. it was decorated minimally, everything was contemporary, and the only splash of color was black with the warm colors of autumn, hanging above the fireplace that divided the living room and his office which now holds my attention.

It was an oil painting of a man pinned down by the head by another man with a knife. Judging by the clothes of the subjects in the background, I'd say this was painted by an Italian painter.

"Caravaggio" my maker said to me without preamble or even looking up from what he's reading. 

"Ok" I reply just as vaguely without looking away from the picture, I figured he was referring to the artist. It was dark, beautifully depicted, and despite the astounding details within the artwork itself--it was simply minimalist. Surprise surprise.

"Are you still hungry, Sookie?" Godric asked but something tells me he asked only out of courtesy since I was very much obviously nowhere near the frantic bloodthirsty state I was earlier when he found me. 

"No sir, I am not. Thank you though." Since he's being thoughtful for a vampire and has shown me patience, courtesy, and respect, I figured I ought to treat him as such. After all, Gran always says to treat others as you would want to be treated, something I've always carried with me regardless my circumstance. Since Godric didn't seem to mind talking to me while he was...busy, I guess he could manage to answer a few of my questions without taking away from whatever it is he was doing.

"So are you a cop? And Isabel and Stan are your subordinates?" I asked first just to cross off from my list of questions. I must be warming up to him so to speak since a smirk almost made itself known in his usually stoic feature.

"No my child, I am a Sheriff in accordance with our vampire structural law in one of many areas here in Texas. I enforce the law and bring justice to our kind who are within my area. And yes, Isabel and Stan are my subjects who helps in enforcing our laws."

I nodded my head to let him know that I absorbed the information he's provided. I'm not sure if I was supposed to pry some more about vampire laws and hierarchy since I was now considered a vampire citizen but I decided to continue on to my list of questions before we could delve more into that.

"Did you happen to find out why two women beat me to death?" I asked hoping to understand the catalyst of my situation so at least it could give me closure and acceptance over my fate. At this point, their names mean little to me but their motives led me to my death and eventually where I'm currently sitting at. I didn't care to ask what happened to them either cause I honestly did not want to get sucked into looking for them--I might actually make good on my promise to exact my revenge on them.

"From the impression I gathered from hearing their angry expressions-- you've somehow managed to release the vampire they were holding captive and draining from inside their van." Godric was silent after that, most likely he was letting me marinate on that information. I was trying to conjure up a memory to see if something about that scenario feels familiar to me. Nothing came and so I sighed. I really need to learn to butt out of people's business and just go to the authorities instead. I've always known I would get myself killed and now I have proven just as much. 

After feeling the weight of my actions, I got out of my self-absorption and moved on to the next concern on my list. I'm surprised my vampire maker slash father hasn't asked me how I knew of the vampire's presence within that van but I figured if I could get away with it, why not.

"About what you said earlier...about me staying here?" I paused and got an indication that he's following what I'm saying with a nod from him. "What if I don't want to stay here and want to go back living with my Gran instead?" I asked hoping to sweet baby Jesus that he'll take my words carefully and give me this reprieve.

He smiled one of those smiles that did nothing but discourage me instead of comforting me. "I'm sorry child but I cannot abandon you. I must first teach you our ways and guide you in feeding so that the incident with that man earlier doesn't persist again, especially not to those who are close to your former human self." It was discouraging, sure. But I couldn't really throw a tantrum with his logical reasoning especially with the way I treated Leonard earlier.

"Well can I at least visit my Gran tomorrow night? I kinda promised to see her and provide an explanation as to why I was MIA. And I probably need to talk to my boss too and I promise I'll come right back!" I ask him hoping he'll compromise with me.

"Where are you from Sookie?" Godric asks probably realizing that he knows next to nothing about me considering our intimate situation.

"I'm from Bon Temps Louisiana" I provided revealing nothing else, I doubt he cared to hear anything more that was related to my 'former human self'. Not because he's a selfish person but I just figured vampires had their own set of social cues that ran parallel but are still different from humans. We are undead after all so I just figured vampire priorities tend to sink more towards power, survival, and immortal vampire society rather than our previous mortal life in the sun-- not shaking hands would be a good example.

"And how far is that from Shreveport?" Godric asks looking thoughtful.

"Less than an hour I think," maybe he has a business he needs to attend to over there which I'm assuming he's thinking about so that maybe he could go with me while I visit Gran. I thought that was a reasonable compromise and I'm pleased that I got stuck with an understanding vampire. In fact, not only has he been understanding but he has been thoughtful and patient; characteristics that I did not expect a vampire to possess because it's so... _human._

How old is he?  He must be over a thousand years old since he said as much when he mentioned how long it's been since he's been impressed. At least I think that's what he said.

I took another glance at his tattoos and noted that he must've cleaned up too but I hadn't noticed cause he's wearing the same kind of light linen shirt. He must have a few of them, to me that makes him a simple man of practicality and comfort--either that or he used his vamp speed to wash the same shirt. I giggled at that thought and he looked at me then and seemed pleased with my current state of mind.

"I have another progeny in Shreveport, older than you by more than a thousand years. He will do well to look after you while you go about your business and he will provide you quarters for your day rest and escort you to the airport to fly back here the night after." 

"More than a thousand years old?" Well, that kinda answered my age obsession in a very inarticulate fashion. Not like I had much to say about his plan since it was obviously well thought out and it's not like he asked for my opinion, he pretty much just handed it to me. His position as a sheriff was definitely well deserved considering his authoritarian ways which I'm starting to pick up on. My maker just tilted his head.

"I meant that sound's like a great plan...does that mean I'm leaving tonight or tomorrow night?" I asked still trying to scout the situation.

"Tonight before the sun sets, you can lay to rest in a light-tight travel coffin and I'll arrange for Jax to take you to the airport. You should be in Shreveport by the time you wake from your day rest with Eric." 

"ok...so who's Jax?" I internally winced for sounding rude but he went on without expanding further about the aforementioned name, it's only natural I'd ask. Although I have a feeling Eric's his other progeny... my big brother so I didn't bother asking about him.

"Jax's my daytime subordinate, he fulfills errands and tasks I cannot during the day," ah...in other words, his daytime lackey. I wondered just what kind of loyalty Jax has over Godric, whether he's the type that could easily be persuaded with money or is he as respectable as Isabel.

"Jax is well paid and he is a good sort with morality instilled in him- He can be trusted." okay then...but then I realized I haven't said anything out loud.

"How'd you know what I was thinking?" I carefully ask, trying to seem unaffected by it, I wouldn't want him turning that question around towards me.

"When you have lived for as long as I have, you can read between the subtleties of a person's face and postures. The same way I've noticed you observing others except I can pick it up much quicker than you." He answered with a smirk that could barely be called as such. I didn't know I was an open book and that he's actually paying that close of attention towards me. I've got to be more careful--from now on, acting is the name of the game. However, there's something else he's not telling me...I can feel it. Should I ask him about it and risk being discovered that I've magically conjured a new set of skill. That somehow I could feel his emo-- but wait, I couldn't feel Isabel's emotions earlier. Maybe there is something more to this situation. Now that I think about it, I think he mentioned before about me feeling agitated...how on earth did I miss that? Is he feeling my feelings too?

"What exactly does the maker-child-progeny relationship entails? Is there suppose to be a...connection between us?" I asked as I lean towards him, resting my elbows on my knees and entwining my hands together. An aggressively 'nosy' posture in my book, but I wanted him to know that I'm determined to learn everything I could about being created by him.

Shockingly enough, I finally managed to get an actual smile from Godric--the impressed kind, not the happy one with teeth.

"I see you've finally realized that we can sense each others...feelings"

"Yes..." I reply feeling strangely impressed, which doesn't make any sense since I shouldn't feel this, if anything I should be wary-- then it hit me.

"How come your emotions are overclouding mine? I'm feeling yours much more strongly and despite what I'm feeling...I don't think this is right." I ask barely acknowledging my own annoyance and instead, confusion is taking over me...which I figured is actually coming from Godric before it completely disintegrated and I'm left feeling completely alone with my annoyance--and boy was I annoyed.

"What just happened?" I demand not realizing till it came out of my mouth that I was feeling all sorts of unstable and I almost raised my voice to my over-a-thousand-year-old maker. I sat back in my chair, took a deep calming breath and silently chastised myself for my rude behavior.

"Pardon my manners Sookie, I didn't realize how strongly influenced you were with my emotions. I just dimmed our connection greatly so that you may feel me but cannot be dominated by me." He waited to see if I had something to say about that but sees that I don't so he went on explaining.

"Every maker and child has a bond of empathy, this connection we hold ensures each other's safety and loyalty and can be used to locate and call on each other. As you've already witnessed, I can physically influence your being with a command."  
 _Luckily for Leonard_ , I thought.

"However, I have not heard of a maker that can almost monopolize a progeny's emotion the way I have done yours." He wondered out loud, looking at me without really seeing me.

It's a possibility that my telepathy magnified his feelings--which is probably why it overshadowed mine in the process. But I wasn't about to mention that, maker or not...I am not about to reveal my hand which means that now, I have to work even harder to ensure that my disability is hidden.

We both sat quietly in front of each other, only a few feet apart but worlds away within. I'm mentally noting what I can and cannot do now that I'm a vampire, having a shallow reflection about never again laying outside to get a tan, luckily my skin still looks the same, I wonder when will the paleness kick in?  My maker cut through my reverie and asked something that definitely redefined my perspective even more so than before and threw me for a loop.

"Why didn't you burn Sookie?" Godric sharpened his focus on me that I felt like a kid again, getting in trouble at the principal's office.

"Excuse me?" For a minute there I almost said I was sorry but I didn't know what he meant till it hit me like a bullet in the head. 

I woke up before the sun had set. _Well, holy fudge._  

I didn't know how to answer that and I'm sure the look I bore said as much. Though I doubt a vampire as old as Godric would just take my word for it without at least snooping around on our connection to see if I was telling the truth, which I'm sure he did since his countenance changed to something more perplexed rather than accusatory.

"Does this mean that it's possible that I can walk during the day?" I asked him, hopeful for once since the sun had set.

"I'm not sure," he replies actually sounding unsure.

"I'll look into it and see if this situation has occurred before." I nod my head in acceptance since I couldn't think of anything either...unless--and with that thought, Godric snapped his head in attention towards me. He had felt it...he knows that I know that he felt it.  
I accidentally let the feeling of hope mixed with understanding slip and with that he knows I've been caught and now he could feel my fear and turmoil.

"Underlings," he says to no one in particular which confused me and I was about to say as much when suddenly Isabel and a tall, dark, and middle-aged-handsome guy--who I'm assuming is Stan, appeared in the office.

"Yes Sheriff," They said simultaneously, Isabel's attention to my maker while Stan's sweeping me up with his eyes.

"Please leave the premise for an hour," Godric commands without explanation which isn't surprising anymore, but what is surprising was when both Stan and Isabel just replied with a

"yes sheriff" and left. Just like that. Either my maker commands such devotion out of his greatness and rectitude, or they're both younger and weaker than he is. I'm assuming both but leaning more to his character.

Finally, he asked what I was hoping he wouldn't...  
"What else are you hiding my child?"

I sighed out loud, there's really nothing left to hide at this point, I just hoped that he'd keep this a secret between us.

"I'm a Telepath," I pretty much dove right in there without introductions or warning and without an explanation except adding "and I don't know why" as an afterthought.

Shockingly, all I got was another smile from him and a deep inhale, as if he was trying to commit my smell to memory. I felt a sense of understanding which I gathered came from him cause I sure as heck am not understanding a thing right now. I guess in a way I must've rubbed off on him cause my maker took a note from my book and shook me in a way that I did not see coming at all.

"So you are of fae."

_What the fudge is that?_


	3. Learn

" _If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you._  
 _If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you._ _"_

-Anonymous

 

"You have fae blood in you, it is diluted but it is there." He says it as if that explains everything there is to explain and with such little regard, as if he was saying, 'oh look, the cocktail is red, but it's diluted'. I'm almost tempted to just say 'cool' and change the subject just to see how he'll react.  
"fae...as in fairy? little tiny, humanoid, magical creatures, with wings and sparkly dust?" I'm aware I'm being unbearably sarcastic but Tinkerbell's the only fairy I can really go by, and even if he's telling the truth it still sounds ridiculous. I was about to laugh but Godric looked so serious, I had to bite it back and take his words into consideration.

Clearly, he thinks they exist and considering that he's an ancient vampire who's been around and seen the world, maybe there's truth to what he's saying; keyword being that he's a vampire. I leaned in towards him again to show that I'm taking this conversation to heart while he just looked at me with absolute patience before he went on.  
"They are just like humans in every physical sense except for their remarkable beauty" he tossed a nod my way as if my looks was another evidence, "and their ears are sharp in shape, as depicted by the media."  
"So my ears are not pointed because I'm not a pure fae...fairy, fae" I settled since at least fae sounded more serious and less like Tinkerbell.  
"Yes, which explains why the smell of your blood led me to you the night I found you. Fairy blood attracts our kind and other supernaturals because of your life spark, the purely magical essence fairies have in their blood. In fact, the night I had to drain you so you could be turned into a vampire, I was highly inebriated from your blood." He had a blank, distant look talking about the night he drained me, if he were a dog I bet he'd be drooling by now. Yikes!

"But now that I'm a vampire...does that mean all of that's gone now?" I ask as my mind's veering towards the direction of the possibility of being a part fae with my 'essence' still intact in a room full of vampires.  
"No child, I don't think so. You see your smell- although now diluted even more because of your vampiric nature- is still there," He sniffs the air and I follow his example, although I only smell the sun on my skin with something mildly sweet and clean added to it.  
"You still smell like life, sunshine, and something tantalizing I can't place."  
"Soap?" I offer since I could still smell the floral scent on my hands, despite the fact my hands are resting some inches away from my face. He didn't answer but he smiled nonetheless.

His eyes went vacant again like it does when his mind is out, roaming somewhere else and not in this room.  
"Fairies are also considered to be fierce fighters, their brutality can match that of a vampire." He added after a minute when I thought he had forgotten about our conversation.  
Well, that does seem to check off some boxes about myself in a way, I've had dark and awful thoughts, I'm not gonna lie. And my morality is always in the gray area when it comes to the question of would you or would you not hurt somebody. I've always thought that I'd make a good soldier since hurting or killing a bad guy isn't that bad in my book-although I have thankfully not tested that theory so who knows. From what I've seen out of Terry Bellefleur, a veteran from my town, taking someone's life is irreparable and deeply burdens you, but I don't see the harm in beating the crap out of someone who deserves it.

After a long pregnant pause, Godric looked at me...and I mean really looked at me. I felt wonder, fascination, and something to the effect of jealousy but mild enough for it to not be called as such.  
"You can walk in the sun Sookie." He said with awe, but I was not about to believe it in fear of letting my hopes up, only to be crushed.  
"And how are you sure? I mean besides me getting up before sunset...cause that could only be a fluke, or even a one-time thing or my body not registering that I'm a vampire till later." I asked but making sure that I wasn't goading him.

"Because my maker had told me as much. You see, not long after I've been turned, my maker was already a thousand years old...three thousand if he lived until now." I gaped...catching flies as Gran would say but I did the math and I knew that my maker was over two thousand years old. Aware of how much I was putting my Gran to shame right now, I closed my mouth and pulled myself together as Godric continued.  
"He was a Roman merchant whose mind was consumed with owning a fairy as a slave to feed on. He has had come across their smell a few times but never really catching one because according to him, they were fickle creatures. Among his travels, he would always hear stories of fairies who used to dominate the earth before vampires came and nearly extinguished their kind, so they escaped to another plane. One night when he was in the city of Ur--I guess it's now near modern day Iraq, he met another vampire who told him of his experience in having consumed the blood of the fae" he looks at me as if to say, my people.  
"And he swore to the Goddess Baalat that consuming fairy blood let him day walk if only for a few hours." He paused, looking distantly again and I was raptured in his story that I asked what had happened to the vampire his old master had met, and Godric looked at me thoughtfully and almost smiled and said: "my master killed him after a year of searching the fae together." Well, holy fudge. I couldn't even begin to think just how tormented that guy was, and to think that he was Godric's maker. I berated myself for jumping the gun, for all I know that guy did something to kill his companion, maybe Godric's maker wasn't all that bad-although he did own slaves.

After hearing Godric's reason of why he thinks I can day-walk, added to the glaring evidence that I did just that; it solidified my resolve to experiment our theory when the sun comes up. However, thanks to our father-daughter bond, Godric wasn't just going to let me try this out without setting some precautions first. If meeting the sun was looking like my last day on earth, I was to vamp myself to the room and he made me promise him that I will do as I'm told. It was such a silly scenario that I felt like a child riding the school bus for the first time. I'm tempted to roll my eyes and answer with 'yes dad, I promise I will,' but that would be flat out rude.

After a minute of nonsensical drilling, I didn't notice my maker's thoughtful countenance and I was definitely blindsided when he told me that I couldn't go visit Gran.  
"At least not until we know just how precarious our situation could be." I sighed because once again, as much as I'd want to set my foot down, I really couldn't argue with his logic. My worries were on par with his and there's really nothing I could do about except maybe call Gran, Sam, and Jason. But seriously? How bad could it get? I've been around Isabel, Stan, and Godric and none of them tried to sniff or bite me. But if the real issue is with feeding, I'm sure my older and stronger brother could keep me in check with that, I spoke my thoughts out loud to him.

"But Eric won't be able to command you child, he'd have to physically rip you off a human which could end up in a mess for your victim." He countered. So I asked if maybe I could just drink his blood too?  
"Only a maker can command you, if Eric were to give you his blood, that would only cause you to bond with him, and you will be captivated by him and your feelings would be easily manipulated by your bonded. I'm sorry child, It was wrong of me to give you false hope, I was not thinking clearly and for that, I apologize." I felt the sincerity from him through our bond which did help lessen the blow but his eyes were distant again.

"However, I can compromise with you. I have not seen my child in over a century and I think a visit is long overdue. What about leaving two nights from now? On Sunday?"  
"Seriously? I mean that would be great but you sure you won't be busy...maybe?" I ask not wanting to get my hopes up again. Which I probably shouldn't, at least not until we're on a plane to Louisiana.  
"I'll be able to finish my work by then and Isabel is trustworthy and competent as she has always been." He smiled to reassure me that he wasn't pulling my leg this time and it tugged something in me, he was pleasing to look at and it was magnified when he smiled.

"Would you like to stay here and read something while I go and make a phone call?" He thoughtfully asks regardless the distance I feel between us, his mind's probably already on that phone call he's thinking about.  
"Sure that's fine," my eyes are already sweeping his office, looking for a book to read and finding only one on his desk, "is it ok for me to read that book?" I point at his desk, not wanting to be presumptuous by just picking it up, It could be private only to him. "You may Sookie." And with that, his eyes lingered towards me and he left. I looked around before picking up the book and finding it strange that a vampire has an office without a shelf full of them, looks like I'll be stuck reading The Art of War then.

'...know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every ba-' I looked up from the book having felt a presence in the room in a form of a tall, tattooed, and lean man with an unnerving gaze. He was lazily leaning against the wall facing me, with his arms crossed in front of him with one foot crossed in front of the other. His ears were gauged, his black hair is neatly combed and slicked back and I could tell that he's aware of his good looks. My eyes drop a few inches from his face and are held captivated by his tattoo on his neck, an eye was looking back at me. it was encased in a shield and made to look like the body of an eagle about to swoop down on me, with its wings tattooed around his neck like a high neck collar or a scarf. I smiled at him, fascinated by him as a person; like an art display at the museum.

He smirked probably thinking I was checking him out-I didn't like that but kept the smile on my face anyway.

"Sorry for starin' miss, you were really concentratin' on that book, I didn't know if I should be disruptin'," He talked like what I'd imagine cowboys sounded like but something about his eyes was definitely predatory, and I didn't like that one bit.  
"That's fine, I was just realizing that I wrongfully judged the book by its cover, It's pleasantly interesting." I smiled leaning back comfortably in the chair, raising the book in question. Before he could say anything I cut him off, "I'm sorry if this might come off as rude, but who are you?" I asked as I opened my mind to 'feel' what he was and I realized he was a human, which he went on to show as much when he took quick long strides towards me, shaking my hand.

"My name's Tristan ma'am, pleased to meet you." Surprisingly, he didn't say howdy. From what I could hear from him, he's absolutely harmless and even went on to explicitly think about things he could do to my breast as he towered over me. Still, it didn't bode well with me that a human could sneak up on me like that and I really need to start lowering my senses from now on. After all, I can't hear vampires which the night has proven as much and although I couldn't hear them, I could sense them through the...empty void they seem to be projecting.

"Are you here for someone Tristan?" I ask him conversationally and his predatory smile widened.  _She might be the vampire I was told to service, I wonder if she likes to fuck while she feeds. Her tits looks real and perfect for grabbing_.  
Sadly enough, I've heard worst things said about me or towards me, so I didn't react to his thoughts.

"He's here for you," Isabel provided as she vamped into the room. "Godric says to order you a donor so that he could teach you how to properly feed." Something Isabel said piqued Tristan's interest wondering what she's talking about.  
"But I've already fed...I'm not hungry anymore." I reasoned and Tristan was deflated about being sent back without pay and for wasting his time driving thirty minutes.  
"All baby vamps are hungry, especially on their first night." Isabel rationalized which caused Tristan to refuse.  
"No one told me, I'd be feedin' a newly made vampire. I specifically said I wasn't into the new ones!" He exclaimed with his hands up seemingly walking backward away from us. I was about to reassure him when Isabel went with, "We'll triple your pay and even compensate you for gas."

Tristan paused debating with himself whether it was worth it or not. He justified that his girlfriend was pregnant and about to have a baby soon and the money would not only cover the cost of the hospital but he could upgrade to a better room with the presidential treatment. I saw it on his face before he agreed to it. All the while I'm thinking: _I knew something was off with this guy._

Godric appeared and thanked Isabel right before she left to go to Lord knows where. I stated my case to Godric about not being hungry but he was adamant about it without even saying or doing anything persuasive.  
"It's ok child, not feeding when you are not hungry is actually a good thing because you won't lose control." Tristan liked hearing that and Godric looks at me expectantly that I stood up not knowing if we're supposed to do the practice feed here...in his office. Luckily I was wrong and we moved our feeding lesson to my room where Tristan sat against the headboard of my bed and I sat between his legs with his arm around me so I could feed off his wrist while Godric stood to our left. It's intimate enough but at least with this position, I wouldn't be able to dry hump, Tristan.

After the initial blood that came with the bite, the vampire in me took over. The blood was thrumming within me, jolting and thrilling every vein it passes. It's as if the blood's mission was to reach my pelvis and get me wet and I couldn't help but touch myself for relief. I opened my eyes and saw my maker watching me with intensity and a calm demeanor, with his arms crossed in front of him like a genie, accentuating the bulk of his arms and chest which was defined.

"Sookie, that's enough." My maker commands without actually enforcing it with a proper order, and as much as I wanted him to join me instead, I took my hand out of my underwear and resisted sucking some more and unlatched my fangs. I was instructed to lick the puncture wound which miraculously disappeared before me. Luckily for Tristan, I was trying to impress Godric with my self-control and that I've already fed once before. Tristan scrambled out of bed looking dazed with a very obvious tent in his pants and Godric told him to seek out Isabel for payments while I closed my eyes and sighed in bed.

The sheer control I had to exert to stop was exhausting and I was in serious need of some cherry popping. I opened my eyes after a calming minute and found Godric was still in the room with me, watching me with such a stoic mask that I could not fathom what he could possibly be thinking about. I picked out and identified my own feelings to separate and pinpoint Godric's to see what he could possibly be feeling but realized that there was nothing there for me to latch onto. He must've closed me off during my orgasm-seeking state, not that I could blame him. I know deep down that I should feel some shame for my actions but in a way, I've accepted my vampire identity and it seems to dim my shame. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

I still believe in certain human morals and social cues Gran instilled in me from when I was a child and things that molded me as a person, heck, I can't even cuss because ladies shouldn't have a potty mouth. But characteristics I've picked up because society forced me in a circle with their own set of rules as I was getting older, seems to be waning and with it the feeling of freedom. And it's not like I've kept myself intact because I believe in marital sex, it's only because I have higher standards and would rather have sex with someone I wouldn't feel shame with afterward. The problem at present is now that I'm a vampire, my standards have gone to heck and I'm just wanting to experience my first time with someone I at least respect before I make the mistake of losing it to the next donor because 'I just lost control'.

"Godric?" I ask but mostly to get his attention as I use my elbows to raise my head so I can look at him better when we talk.  
"Yes, Sookie?" He looks at me as if he just woke up from a nap like he was confused and sad and couldn't get his foggy mind from a dream he doesn't recall.  
"Are you alright?" I ask since I wasn't sure if I've somehow upset him or not. He answered with a small smile which wasn't reassuring at all and he nodded and waited for me to continue talking.  _Well ok then._

"You know how vampires heal?" I asked and he nods.

"Well...does that mean if I were to have sex, I'll always stay a virgin? Cause you know-I'll heal every time." I ask cause honestly, it sounds like I might not have such a pleasing time-I've heard stories of pain during my friend Holly's bachelorette and some say that it gets better after a second time. I'm definitely kicking myself in the head for not losing it to JD during our high school prom when I had the chance. At least he was a nice guy and he said exactly what was on his mind, despite how dim his metaphorical lightbulb functioned. Godric however, seemed to be perplexed and absorbed with that information and just continued on with the detached gaze that I'm sure he's not seeing me anymore and I was really getting worried for him.

I slipped out of bed and carefully got in front of him, treating him like a lion that can pounce at any given moment if I were to alarm him. I've finally gotten his attention when I was a foot away from him and his eyes followed my movements that resembled the way hunters carefully zeroed in on their prey. I smiled and reached out to him to rub his arms in a comforting gesture, I get vampires aren't into touching but we're family-- of a sort, I found nothing wrong with comforting my maker.

"I am sorry Sookie, I'm afraid my mind was elsewhere." he apologized which I already gathered and told him so.

"I spoke with my progeny from Shreveport before, and he has informed me that he has a friend who happens to be of pure fae, he will arrange his friend to contact me. Of course, I did not disclose to Eric why I am looking for information about faes and he did not inquire further."

"Well that's good to hear," I smile at him a little bit confused, seems like such a minuscule thing to be looking like he's bothered by it. Unless Godric just distracted me with the information about the fairy just so I don't pry- which is also understandable. Clearly my maker loves his privacy so I'm not about to nosy up to his business. I did find it perplexing that a vampire was friends with a fae, it reminded of how giant tarantulas keep frogs as pets to rid of insects from their nest. I guess it wouldn't be a stretch to think that Eric has the same kind of relationship with a fae.

I know that being a vampire means that my skin's suppose to be cool to the touch, but at the moment, warmth seems to be gradually cloaking my entirety in a way where it feels dissonant. It's almost as stifling and draining as the summer heat in the south. If the warmth were to permeate through the coolness of my skin, I'm almost sure I'd be sweating right now.

"The day has broken," Godric looks at me expectantly.

"Oh...so is that why it feels...warm and stagnant in here?" I ask realizing that something within our kind could actually sense the sun. Godric smiled.

"It actually feels worse for the others and I, you see for us it feels...like there's pressure added to the warmth, the pressure then exhausts us to force us to sleep," he started bleeding then, which alarmed me but he took it in stride and just bowed his head and said he had to rest for the day.

Intriguing enough, I wasn't feeling tired or pressured to go to sleep so I decided to go outside and see if there was any substance to my maker's claim that I could walk in the sun. I stepped out in the front of the house thinking I was going to see the sunrise but it looked like I missed it by some minutes. The sun was fully displayed but still sat above the horizon and it didn't burn me at all. I studied my skin closely and when it was evident that I wasn't about to get toasted in the near future; I sat on the lawn, my legs pulled up and wrapped my arms around my knees and basked in the warmth of the sun.

I took note that it's mid-November and I remembered feeling the chill when I was still a human only four days ago. But aside from the cool frigid air, the season has brought, It felt like summer to me which gave me contentment and for a moment I felt like I was back at Gran's sunbathing as a human, unconcerned with all the vampire affairs.

 _She's real pretty...doesn't seem like the type to get involved with fangers, what on earth is she doin' not wearing a jacket outside in this weather, and she's barefoot too. Maybe she's not all there in the head._  
I opened my eyes after hearing someone within my radar and I glance to my right to see a tall imposing man approaching me. He must be well over six feet but I wasn't sure since I was sitting on the ground. He was large in capacity and even with a jacket on, I doubt it was because he was heavy in weight. He moved graceful enough that I couldn't help but feel a bit envious, there's a confidence in his walk which I enjoyed watching. Even with a hat on, I could tell that he had black hair and it's short and trimmed on the side. He was gorgeous.

"Excuse me miss?" I smiled as a way to show that he's got my attention.  
"Do you need any help? Are you a donor?" He took off his jacket and offered it to me.  
"Here I don't want you to get cold out, are you lost or something?" The impression I got from him was sincere and his worry for my current state was touching. I shook my head no for the jacket he offered.  
"I live here, I just came out to enjoy the morning sun," I offered my hand for him to shake.  
"I'm Sookie by the way."  
"Jax. I work for Godric." he replied with a lazy smile which I found endearing.  _I guess she must be someone's_ girfriend _or something, I_ dont's _see any marks on her though._  
"Well miss Sookie, if you don't want my jacket, why don't we head on inside where it ain't chilly. Your hands are gonna freeze right off if you stay here for far too long."  _How long has she been out here, she's cold as ice... must be one of those people who just loves the cold_. He helps me up on my feet and my smile broadens, wanting to laugh for mistaking me as a human. Not that I blame him, no one's ever heard of a daylight walking vampire before.

We got into the house and I didn't want to seem rude so I offered him water or something warm like tea or coffee.

"Coffee will do nicely, thank you."

I smiled and turned but realized that I didn't know where the kitchen was...or if they even had a coffee maker. I turned back to Jax and he held a knowing smile.

"You don't know where the kitchen is do you?" Luckily he didn't give me hard time about it, just chuckled at my fumble and asked me to follow him since he knew his way around the house.

I sat on a stool by the white marbled kitchen island  as Jax went on about making himself a cup of coffee. He offered me some and I was about to turn him down, but I was curious to see if I can actually stand to consume regular food and not have to rely on blood so I said yes and added my thanks.

"Some host I turned out to be, my Gran would have a fit if she found out that a guest is making me a cup of coffee," I mention casually just to cover the silence, it wasn't uncomfortable by any means but it gave me a chance to get another glimpse of his lazy smile as he offered me my coffee.

"Well, if it appeases your Gran, I've worked here long enough and know my way around this kitchen that she could hardly consider me as a guest here." He leaned with his elbows opposite where I was sitting, with a mug of his own.

I couldn't be sure if his eyes were blue or if they were considered gray. They were so alarmingly light and clear that they looked like glaciers and I was getting sucked into them.

"Hey Jax," A still small voice was coaxing me to just dive right into the moment and kiss him, the more sensible side was reminding me that I just met him, but the small voice reminded me that I'm a vampire, I can do whatever I want.

"Yes?" He answered in a trance-like state.

"Would it be ok if I...if I could kiss you?" I'm not gonna lie, I've never been kissed before, not even by my previous interested male callers. And with my heightened vampire libido lately, I'm dying to know what it would be like to kiss. At least with Jax, I find him attractive with a decent personality to boot.

"That's fine with me"

"Really? Is it really ok? you see I'm new to this..." I explain focusing on his eyes to show him that my request comes from a place of vulnerability rather than a hormonal decision.

"and can you just...kiss me as if you're actually in love with me?" I ask stamping down on my shame. But with the way Jax agreed with me, it was hard to be remorseful, besides—his thoughts were blank so I took that as a sign that he really doesn't see anything wrong with my request.

He placed his coffee down and walked around the Island, turning the stool I was sitting on towards him as he situated himself between my legs. He cradled my head between his hands and used his thumb to caress my lips and I closed my eyes to savor the intimacy of the role he's providing. It's a goo--no a great thing that I'm physically attracted to him already, something about the way he walked, how he didn't think of me immorally, his eyes were caring and they didn't leer. How even though he thought I was attractive, seemed like he was flirting, being charming; he doubtlessly was not interested in me at all. Which was why I felt it safe to ask him for a kiss.

He kissed my forehead at first before traveling lower to my lips, making short gentle stops in between as if to unwind the knot I was feeling in my stomach in anticipation. He took his time enticing my desires, luring me in with his ragged breathing, his heart pounding, all of it played a part in his performance and I could almost fall for it.  I had a feeling he's done this before since he seemed to know just what to do and how to get me to a place where I was hot and ready for us to connect and collide.

I felt his breath on my lips and the prospect of what's to come excited me, and I opened my eyes to find him watching me. And with that he leaned in and I finally got the kiss I've been wanting, expecting, and dreaming about.

It's exactly what I hoped it would be and so much more-- his lips looked thinner compared to mine but they had substance and they felt like they naturally belong with mine, and I had no idea where he began and I ended. I had no idea when my hands started combing through his hair and pulling him closer to me but I wanted more, I wanted to take everything he can give me. He pushed his tongue through my mouth, feeling its way in as I greeted it with my own and we savored each other; it sparked something in my undead chest that felt like he was breathing life into me.

I didn't want to but I knew deep down we had to pull apart and I would not have thought of it, if it weren't for the fact that Jax had bitten me out of passion. His eyes were wild and mine were probably just as well, my blood stained his lips and led a trail to his mouth which he licked to taste. I almost laughed at the irony of our situation that I wasn't the one who had bitten him and how the prospect of doing so haven't even crossed my mind. However, what Jax said to me afterwards was like being drenched with a bucket of ice water.

"I think I'm in love with you"

_Well, holy fudge!_


	4. Grow

" _We don't grow when things are easy._  
_We grow when we face challenges_."  
-Joyce Meyer

  
It's probably only been a few seconds but it feels excessively long to wait before dropping the punchline after making an awkward joke of a comment. Seeing as Jax wasn't gonna say that he's only kidding till I said something first, all I've managed to say was ok and letting the second letter hang longer than intended so he could cut me off and then we could laugh about it afterward. Although it'll probably be just a forced laugh in my part—it wasn't that funny of a joke to begin with.

He smiled—thank goodness! And he moved a piece of my hair out of my face and sharpened his focus on me, and it did something in my stomach, and I'm sure it was the good kind.

  
"I get it, you don't have to say anything in return. This is all strange to you, and you're new to this, and it's such an overwhelming thing...but I've been waiting for you for a lifetime it seems, I'm very patient." He expresses with as much sincerity and care as he can. I immediately jumped out of my seat to create a much-needed distance between us.

 _What on earth is going on?_ I'm trying to find a reason why he would say that he loves me when we have just met a few minutes ago, it didn't make any sense. A moment ago his mindset was completely different and the way he's acting now, this feels unnatural compared to his previous state. I mean yes, we just met—but he was a stable person and from everything I heard from his thoughts, what his actions have shown, his disinterest in me, and considering that Godric regards him well; he seemed completely sane.

I doubt he grew feelings after one kiss, I was inexperienced and despite the explosive chemistry that I felt and for a moment I wished it was a real kiss borne out of real love-- it could've been good only to me, in my amateur mind.

 _It's gotta be her, I finally found her, my intended has finally been bor--_  
I shut his thoughts out afraid to listen to the crazy rabbit hole his mind was heading. Freakishly enough it sounds like he really thinks I'm someone important to him and thought we were intended for each other.

_Sweet baby Jesus what is going on?_

The only sensible action I can think of is to sit him down and talk him through or out of this.

I faced him hoping to talk some sense into him.

"Jax, when did we meet?" I figured the best approach is to treat him like a child and make him see reason with a series of questions so he could form a more logical thought on his own. Without feeling like I influenc-- _wait, is it possible vampires can hypnotize others like what Godric probably did to Leonard? Cause that would make sense. Although it feels like I'm just grasping straws at the moment, making up reasons to explain and define my situation. Besides, I have no idea how to hypnotize... Although he was acting dazed when I looked into his eyes. I may be overthinking things and making up excuses out of thin air. This is what happens when I panic, I need to breathe, I need all my brain power right now._

After a long internal debate, I decided to try my original method first and if that doesn't work I guess I'll try hypnosis on him and tie him down and gag him if I have to. I focused my attention back to Jax and notice him leaning his hip against the island with his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised, trying not to laugh. I was starting to feel that he was secretly laughing at me like I was the crazy-- crazier person.

I sat back on the stool in front of him and although he tried to initiate physical contact, I immediately smacked his hand away and pointed at him to act accordingly hoping he'll sense it in my eyes and on the energy I'm emitting. it's the same maneuver I use on dogs and children and it normally causes them to not only behave but to pay close attention to me without having to dish out a verbal command. Jax raised both hands in surrender with a smirk on his face.

"When did we meet?" I started out again, starting with the simplest question to scope his sanity.

  
"at six fifty-eight this morning," He replied with that same smirk still plastered on his face. It's such a detailed answer that I couldn't help but feel like he's mocking me.

  
"What's your name?"

  
"I go by Jax"

  
"And how old are--" I sighed. I actually don't know the answer to that to be asking him. In fact, I know nothing about him but I tried again.

  
"How'd you find me this morning?" At least I'd know the answer to that.

  
"With your eyes closed, you were smiling and at peace, and with the way the sun was radiating from your skin and hair...you looked like an--" I held my hand up to cut his train of thoughts because he just hit the crazy mark again. Clearly, he forgot what he thought of me when he first saw me cause he wasn't thinking that at all...at least not what I heard from his thoughts. I had only one question left at this point before I tie him up, wait for Godric to wake up and have him hypnotize the crazy out of his lackey.

"When do you think you fell for me?" I ask seriously putting a weight in my words just in case this was just some annoying ongoing joke he still hasn't revealed--like punk'd. With that, the smirk was gone and his face turned serious...good, he's taking me seriously.

"When I felt you trying to glamour me and I realized you are a vampire."

_Well fuck. He knows._

That just brought a new set of whirlwind question I needed him to answer. I took a moment to calm my mind and started out with the simplest one I could think of.

"Are you human?"

  
"No" He smirked at that. And I wasn't sure if I was excited because he might be a fae like me or scared that he might harm me, which I went ahead and asked him anyway.

  
"Are you planning on harming me?"

  
"Never" And he said that with absolute sincerity that I heard within him. He raised his finger before I could tackle him with the next question which I guess means that he has a question of his own.

  
"Are you a Stackhouse?"

  
I didn't know how to answer that or if I even should. I guess the best way to get my answer was to just tell him truthfully.

  
"Yes...how do you know my family's name?"  
He smiled a happy and sincere smile, there was absolutely no malice behind it which pacified my discord some since I figured maybe he knows my family somehow. He took a long pause and when I listened to his thoughts, I realized that he was trying to find a way to tell me the truth without me taking an insult out of the act. He then looked at me, perplexed with a strange look on his face which was not at all troubling.

  
_'I can actually feel you listening in on me...I can't believe I did not catch that before.'_

I'd say that it was almost disturbing, to get caught listening to someone's intimate moment inside their heads but something about us talking to each other telepathically was exciting to me, it was like finding a long-lost kin when you thought you were alone in the world.

 _'I feel the same too.'_ Jax informed me telepathically.  
_'I guess I didn't feel you earlier because I stopped honing in on my abilities since I have been alone for so long--for millennia actually. And I've lost interest in hearing people's thoughts--they're all just white noises to me so I don't bother listening_.' He explains which I understand, I guess if you've lived for as long as he has, hearing the same old crap from people, it could be taxing.

  
_'Does this mean you're a fae?'_ I asked  
_'Yes, except I'm a pure fae who's also a vampire hybrid just like you.'_  
_'Ah, that explains-- something_.' I smiled at that because I still had a million questions to ask him.  
_'How do you know my family?'_ I asked.

  
_'I signed a blood contract with your ancestor Niall, which promises me that the next fae-bearing female in his family will be wed to me. The contract was drafted to end a blood feud between me and his tribe. It was signed in 1704...more than three hundred years ago.'_ Which explains why he was trying not to insult me, but even though the feminist in me wanted to throw something on his face and tell him that he's being a misogynistic neanderthal, another part of me understood that the times were different then. I'm sure that if I were born in those times, I'd probably just go along with what the men wanted out of me for honor and duty and all that ridiculousness.

 _'Who are you? I'm guessing Jax isn't really your name since you admitted it's what you go by?'_ He smiled impressed I caught that.

  
_'My real name is Macklyn Warlow, and I used to be one of the first faerie princes that used to exist here on earth, along with your great-ancestor Niall Brignant, the king of the sky-fae tribe. Which makes you a princess and the reason why I drafted a contract to marry you._ ' Well, that answered my question, and although I know there are more questions branching off from that statement, my mind went blank.

Seriously? A fairy princess? And once again my mind went back to Tinkerbell for some reason. Saying those two words together felt so childish and ludicrous that I wanted to laugh but I find that I can't.

' _How old are you?_ ' I went with a simple and safe question since I was mentally struggling to grasp the onslaught of information.  
_'I'm over five thousand years old_.'  
' _Ah..._ ' I slowly nodded my head without even knowing I was.

  
"That's cool." I wanted to start talking out loud since my mind was starting to feel cluttered and stuffed with so much information that I just didn't know what to think anymore.

I felt Jax or Mack's presence leaving my mind and he reheated my cup of coffee and handed it back to me.

"Here, this will help," He then went on to taking stuff out of the fridge, getting a pan out and started making something for us to eat.

  
"Since I'm always here during the day going through the list of errands Godric and them set out for me, I brought in some groceries so I could make something whenever I have time to eat, they never use the kitchen anyway except to store True Blood. Luckily for us, we could still enjoy and consume human food especially during the day, except at night we're starving for blood." Jax explains as it looks like he's making us an egg sandwich with bacon and fried tomatoes. It seems he's right on that account since I find myself enjoying my coffee and the smell of bacon he's cooking.

  
"So what do I call you?" I asked.

  
"Just Jax will be fine." I nodded and replied with an ok.

"So...howcome, you're warm--er than most vampires?" I ask since I'm cooler to the touch compared to him, although not as cold as Godric's skin. Jax however, is as warm as humans.

  
"I think it might have something to do with the fact that I was full fae prince before I was turned... those of us who are of pure royal blood tends to have a much more powerful magic within us.

_Huh, must be nice._

"What is glamour?" I figured it's easier to just dive into the easier questions so that my mind's not overwhelmed.

  
"It is what vampires do when they are trying to influence humans." _I knew it!_ Vampires really can hyp--glamour people.

  
"Sorry for trying to glamour you, I didn't know I was doing it." I had to add since I realized glamouring someone for no reason was just rude. It's not like he was trying to harm me, plus I've apparently tried to glamour him into kissing me. Luckily he took it in stride and just laughed it off while I kept drinking my cup of joe.

  
"I get it your new to this...so when were you turned?" He continued with the light questions as if it was never brought up that I'm supposed to be his fairy-vampire fiancee.

  
"I just woke up last night for the first time actually. Apparently, two women were beating the crap out of me when Godric found me and turned me." He looked upset when he heard that I almost died and from the thoughts he was projecting, he was furious that he almost lost me--his last chance to happiness, and thankful Godric found me just in time.

I didn't know how I felt about that...it was touching that he cared in a way, but we just met and I was nowhere near falling in love with him or anybody for that matter. I can't even comprehend what that feeling evokes, it's such an abstract idea to me--although I do hope for it. I know that there's a healthy amount of like, respect, trust, attraction and I guess more than the love I feel for my family. But I've never felt it to say that I'm willing to kill someone or take a bullet for it.

Looking at Jax, and seeing how desperately he wants to fall in love and connect with somebody... it's such a strange, enlightening, and hopeful thing. The only problem is that I want it to happen naturally and not because I'm bound by contract to do so. I want to be wooed, challenged, respected, appreciated and I want someone that I could adore. And I know that all that takes time, and I might even fall for a guy who didn't check any of my boxes and might be shorter than me and someone I hated at first. But I can't give him the kind of love he's wanting right now. I'm too inexperienced and I have so much more to learn about myself and the supernatural world I'm apparently a part of now.

I didn't realize how openly I was projecting my thoughts to Jax till he placed my breakfast sandwich in front of me, took the mug off my hands and situated himself on the barstool next to me and rubbed my back in a comforting manner.

  
"I get it, I heard what you said and I really get it. You're young and I was putting so much pressure on you and you probably felt trapped. I've had thousands of years to think about this and you've had minutes. I already knew when the times had changed that you weren't gonna swoon and let me take you away from where you truly want to be. I came on too strongly but I want you to know that I was never planning on uprooting you. Especially now that you're already going through something life-changing and you're still grasping your new life. You should still do whatever you want to do, I'm not latching on to you or claiming you and keeping experiences from you that would mold you to grow into something greater. I meant what I said that I've waited for you all my life, I am a patient person and I can wait for more, for as long as you want till you're ready for me. Right now, we could be friends-- although I can't guarantee that I won't try to 'woo' you, I want you to come to me when you have questions, problems or whatever you need...I have a lifetime of knowledge and I will not hold back in providing it for you. You can kiss me all you want and use my body, and I won't even blink an eye if you turn around and fall for someone else. I just need you to remember that now that I've found you, I will always protect you. But, I want you to really hear me when I say this Sookie," I turned to look at him to let him know I'm paying close attention and his eyes were hauntingly intense and beautiful that I had to take in an unnecessary breath.

  
"When the day comes that you are finally ready to be mine whether it's now or another thousand years from now, you will only want to be mine and no one else's. No fucking around, no doubts, I want and will have your absolute commitment and I guarantee you, after some time of being mine, you will hate yourself for straying away from me." For the second time today, I actually said fuck in my head and crashed my mouth into his.

After some time, Jax finally managed to get around to doing the task which my maker has provided for him, and since I felt bad for taking half of his time in questions and some heavy R-rated makeout sessions, I offered to clean the kitchen after we ate. He left about a few hours ago for errands and I'm currently lounging on the living room chaise, on the last chapter of The Art of War.

After the enlightening speech, Jax gave me about waiting for me, the feeling of being shoved in a cage vanished and I'm actually feeling much more relaxed around him. I didn't fall in love with him immediately of course, but I do find him absolutely physically attractive and another kind of attraction is starting to bloom. I am glad to find someone I could talk to and question about when it comes to being both a fairy and a vampire. A friend to lean on to and someone who's not going to judge me for having a dual mentality.

According to Jax, when the sun rises he has the tendency to revert back to his former fairy personality and when the sun sets, he's as impulsive and immoral as any other vampires. He says that under Godric's example, he's managed to tone down his darkness and has improved greatly compared to the vampire he used to be before. Although he did add that Godric and his nest has no idea what he really is, as far as they're concerned, he's just a regular human. Supposedly, they couldn't smell his essence because he has the power to cloak it from vampires. Quite a neat trick actually and something he can't apparently teach me cause I'm just a halfling. At least not until I exchange blood with him and take some of his powerful 'essences', only then will I be able to learn. And I am nowhere near ready for that. It was also interesting when he informed me that vampires tend to cry with bloody tears, but from what I've seen for myself and he has for his, we're not bound by the same rules and it may be our fairy blood preventing that from happening. Thank goodness.

I do see what he meant about feeling differently when the sun's up, I actually feel like my old self again which is not by any means a good thing. All the horrible and shameful things I did the night before came back to haunt me as soon as I was alone with my thoughts and guilt. For a good hour by myself, I sat marinating in mournful thoughts thinking about what I've done to Leonard, my good Samaritan, and I was glad that Godric glamoured that appalling experience away from him. Of course, after I finally found peace in that, I felt utterly embarrassed for the erotic display in front of my maker and Tristan. What was I thinking? I didn't even bother to linger on that awkwardness, I just resolved to tamper on that feeling and ensure it never happens again.

Forgetting the craziness that I caused is what led me to settle on the couch reading a book and pondering on everything I learned from Jax.

With all the information my mind's trying to attain, we both agreed that maybe I should just ask three questions at a time and move on to doing other things. And boy did we move on to other things especially since I am twenty-four, inexperienced, and eager, and he's a man with male impulses. Another trait he attained because of his fairy-prince bloodline, is to be able to keep his heart beating and in turn, himself breathing. Although he did learn that he can hold his breath for weeks but the longer he holds it, the more 'vampire' he becomes. 

I'm not jealous of that trait at all, something I realized as a vampire is that a heart is a mean, controlling organ that no one's aware of till it's not there. It's always dictating how you should feel and react, and It exaggerates and magnifies emotions and causes people to act irrationally. Mainly because their brain doesn't have time to process and diagnose why the heart is acting the way it is and thus emotional people act on an impulse. I mean, I'm not saying that vampires aren't emotional creatures, we are, but at least we have time to process things because our heart isn't demanding for us to act immediately. And vampires who do act immediately are just impulsive in character; either from lack of experience or from confidence because of experience.

Which is why when I called Jason around three in the afternoon, since Gran wasn't picking up, and he told me that it was because Gran had gotten shot in during a store robbery; I didn't immediately get up and leave to go Bon Temps. I want to believe me, but my wallet was in my suitcase so I have no way of getting on a plane so I needed to ask Godric for some cash. I also had to ask someone if I could borrow a pair of navy flats that was just my size in my room closet, I was still barefoot after all. And seeing that there were more clothes in the closet, I debated whether or not I should also borrow a jacket or a cardigan just to blend in and not upset the humans in the hospital. Lord knows they've already got enough problems and it might just cause more anxiousness to add a vampire in their setting. Picturing the wary looks the tired patrons could cast my way at the hospital, I resolved to ask to borrow the beige cardigan hanging closest to me since it matched with the cream blouse and green pants Isabel provided. I sat back on the couch alone with my damp thoughts about my human family and what I have yet and hope to not lose, and as soon as Godric wakes up I'm letting him know that I'm leaving.

A couple hours later, and a jingle from a key being inserted and a turn of the door knob announced Jax's arrival. When he came into the room and saw the agonizing pain on my face, he vamped in front of me as I stood up and he held on to me tightly. Tears that I thought were dried out poured once again and although my mind was a jumbled mess, Jax managed to pick up on what was upsetting me. After some time, we settled on the couch with me tucked to his side and his arm around me. Jax and I shared a thought of him giving me the money to buy my plane ticket but I resolved to wait for Godric regardless, I still had to tell him I was living out of respect for my maker.

"What am I gonna do if I lose her?" I asked.

  
"What you've always done, live." He answered and I measured the truth of his answer.

  
"If you leave tonight you'd have to feed, especially if you're gonna be at a hospital ." He tells me as he got up from our intimate position to grab a cooler he brought home with him and he bent down to grab a bouquet of roses. Despite my sadness, I managed a smile since I've never received flowers before, and they were such a beautiful array of red and pink.

  
"You know, Godric's gonna think you're interested in me." I half-heartedly teased despite my sorrow, but he was unaffected by the comment and showed as much with a raise of his shoulder.

  
"I honestly don't care if he found out who I really am at this point." I smiled smelling the roses as he raised and opened the cooler he was holding to show me the bags of blood inside and I raised my eyebrow in question.

  
"Take some with you tonight especially when you're at the hospital and just in case you forgot to feed, it's good to have some just in case." I smiled at that, It was such a thoughtful gesture but I went on to wonder how'd he know I needed these.  
_'I didn't, I only got these for you just for the heck of it_. ' I thought that was sweet  
_'I told you I was gonna woo you.'_  
_'Thanks friend_.' And with that he pulled me closer to kiss me slowly, tenderly, savoring what I can give him and in return he comforted me, sweeping away the immediate sadness but not fully and I pulled away.  
"Is that how you treat your friends?" I asked

  
"Yes" And with a smile he pulled me for another kiss, holding me in place with his hands while I wrapped my arms around his waist, basking in the warmth he is providing. Sorrow has solidified the base of our relationship and whatever sprouts from it is in Jax's hands.

And that's how Godric, Isabel, and Stan found us sometime later.


	5. Strength

" _Strength does not come from physical capacity._  
_It comes from indomitable will_."  
-Mahatma Gandhi

 

After the plane took off, I yawned to pop my ears from the pressure built up over the change of elevation from the plane's upward trajectory. It's a neat trick I learned from Sam on our way to Dallas and now, four days later, I'm going back to Louisiana and with my vampire maker in tow instead of Sam. It's been a few hours since the sun had set and since Godric and his nest mates walked in on my locking lips with Jax, luckily it wasn't a long show for them. I didn't feel the need to explain myself and therefore I didn't, I didn't even blink an eye when I touched myself in front of Godric, so I just played it off like it was just my hyped up libido to blame. Besides, the way Godric seemed to be more in tune with my dried tear-stricken face I doubt he was even mindful of my arms detaching from Jax and the roses I held in my hands. Although Stan-- who I wasn't properly introduced to till some time later-- made some cheeky comment, something to the effect of how I effectively managed my day.

I'm surprised at how easily Godric agreed to not only let me go to Shreveport but how quickly he had booked a plane from Anubis to take off within the hour. Of course, when we arrived at the hangar, we had to wait twenty more minutes for them to finish gassing up the plane since everything was last minute. It was a precious time that could've been wasted if not for the donor that arrived and instead turned the time productively in feeding. Apparently, there was a rule about not being able to feed on the plane because of the high elevation that could cause the donors to get an unstable blood pressure and cause further damage to their health.

Now that the plane has taken off and my bloodlust been sated, Godric makes use of his time calling Eric to let him know of our early arrival and the situation that stimulated our impromptu trip. From what I gather, much like my maker-- Eric's a sheriff of area 5 and we need to report to him in person if we were to enter his area as all vampires must. Luckily, we get the family perks of being able to just call him on the phone and be done with it without having to go through the proper channel. Thank goodness for good fortunes.

When Godric hung up with parting words from what sounds like a Nordic language, he turned his attention to me which felt like I was under a spotlight and fortunately, I was curious rather than nervous.

"Are you still in need of blood Sookie?" He asked, but I couldn't sense whether if it's out of concern or just a conversational thought, his countenance and our connection was either closed off or dimmed.

"I'll be fine, thanks." I smiled to back my words but my eyes automatically wondered off to the insulated bag underneath the console of the plane's provisionary livingroom along with a bag of clothes Isabel had given me. I even managed to change to an attire fitting the season, with a sweater and black jeans. Godric kept a knowing eye on me despite my mind's distraction and I felt a sudden interest blossom out of thin air.

"I see that the sun did not have the same effect on you as it would to any vampire." He observed without his gaze straying away. I nodded in agreement.

  
"And I also didn't bleed from being awake," I added as an afterthought.

  
"And from tears, I see," he provided adding his observation while I just went on nodding, my mind somewhere in Lifecare Hospital where Jason said Gran was in ICU.

"Jax seems quite taken with you," Godric mentions after a while.

"We formed a friendship," I raised my shoulder nonchalantly.

  
"...he cooked me breakfast and made me coffee, we talked and I asked him to get me a bag of blood...or few, and he comforted me with distractions." I felt something in what I've said interested Godric.

"You can consume human food?" Ah...I forgot other vampires couldn't. I smiled then, happy to relay to my maker the interesting information I attained during the day minus Jax and his secrets.

"Yes, it actually kept me fulfilled during the day even with garlic in it." I smiled teasingly even though there wasn't any garlic in my sandwich, which Godric seemed to realize.

"And yet you still live? Has no one told you that our kind burns from garlic?" He counters seriously but his words were indulgent enough considering Godric's countenance could make Bruce Willis seem like a clown in comparison. I smiled at my maker, he has the face made to smile and when he does, there's a line formed around his mouth that only appears when someone has lived their life through rose-colored glasses. Except now, he seems to be permanently stuck floating through a series of mundane events with a dark cloud permanently hanging over his head.

"I've also noticed a change in myself during the day," This perked Godric's attention.

"It's like I'm my old self...my feelings, thoughts...even morals, they all came back to haunt me." I said as my voice gradually gets softer in memory of wallowing in my guilt. It strengthened my resolve to control the darker side of me whenever the sun's down. Godric didn't say anything about that but it kept his mind occupied and after some time, we both indulged individually in our own inner thoughts and monologues.

We took a cab straight to the hospital when we landed at the airport and since I couldn't get a hold of Jason, Arlene, or Sam, we had to stop by the information desk to ask for Gran's room number. Luckily, before I could clog the nurse in the head for informing me that Gran wasn't where I was told she was, Jason appeared on the elevator. It took me all but a few seconds-- from when he stepped out of the elevator to when he held me--to read the clues that Gran had passed. My brother's anguish shook me right out of my shock and we held each other for some time in sync with our grief, with him sobbing and me wishing I could. We were on our own and alone in this world.

Sometime between our misery as Jason had calmed down and we both decided to step aside to a forgotten corner, I asked him if I could see her one last time. I didn't think my question was absorbed considering the empty look his face held till he answered in dull, even tone that she had already been taken away since she passed three hours ago at six. With answering me, something in my brother's eyes changed, without having to read his mind I knew just by the look of him that a storm was brewing and he had chosen to land it on me. In hindsight, I really should've listened to where his thoughts were heading just to avoid this scenario, but listening in on family was off limits.

"Where have you been?" He asks quietly but beneath the simple question was laced with accusatory tone only someone who's known him since birth could detect.

"I..." I didn't know how to answer the question since I didn't want to air my dirty laundry to the rest of the hospital especially since we're off to the side of the foyer. I couldn't help but feel wrongfully incriminated for events that were thrown into my lap and my brother acting as the judge running on precarious emotions.

"I can't tell you here actually, why don't we go to Gran's and-"

  
"Did you know she left you the house?" He cut me off eyeing me suspiciously.

  
"Well...no, I figured we're gonna share it." I tried to explain at which point I've broken our family rules and decided to tap into his mind to hear what kind of discrepancies were brewing against me. He blamed me for Gran having to go to the corner store at night since I wasn't around doing the errands for her. He was upset that I didn't contact him, didn't explain myself, and he might've well just smacked me in the face when he wished I had just kept myself away instead.

"Jason...you don't really think that do you?" I asked shocked that my big brother actually thought so little of me. The only answer I got from him instead was a raised hand ready to strike me and he would've been able to if it wasn't for Godric intervening. Not that he would've managed to physically hurt me, the pain would've been hidden inside which still took effect regardless. Jason however, was shocked seeing Godric materialize seemingly out of thin and holding his arm captive and unmoving till he released it out of respect for me, considering my familial relationship with Jason.

  
"So this is what you've been up to Sook? Whoring yourself to a dead fanger? This is why you can't be with Gran?"

  
"Enough" Godric commanded Jason without having to raise his voice. Jason's instincts were definitely at work because he held his tongue and took a step back.

  
"She is your only family left and the only one who understands your loss yet you push her away with your insults and treat her as if she had caused your Grandmother's death. Tell me, would your Grandmother be happy seeing you as you are? Abusing your younger sister out of spite because of events that transpired that was out of your control?" Godric reprimands Jason whom in turn had nothing to say. But despite the truth in my maker's words, Jason turned and left; not at all subdued.

In a span of seconds in which Godric waited for me to get myself out of the emotional hole my brother and Gran left me in, another vampire entered the scene and bowed before my maker on one knee. He moved like a well-oiled machine despite his tall stature and his head was bowed out of respect, with a long thick curtain of wheat-colored hair matching mine covering his face. I heard that Nordic language again being tossed between him and Godric in greeting in which point I was sure that this was Eric, my maker's first progeny. And with an english command from Godric to rise and an extended arm my way, Eric rose with another bow and properly faced me for the first time and I was struck.

Godric introduced me as Sookie Stackhouse and Eric smiled at me openly, accepting and greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and titling me as his sister, but I found myself feeling wary instead. I was still not sure if the feeling came from the situation I found myself with my brother moments before, Gran's death, or his good looks disarming me before I could gather my wits. He was large, arms and chest built for swinging swords, and face meant for stopping women in their tracks and boy was I thrown off.

"Pleased to meet you, Eric," I greeted with a smile which I hoped came out sincere-- I was emotionally exhausted and I was trying to lose my inhibition towards him. Something with what I said must've been amusing to Eric since I could see his interest peak with his smile.

  
"Well aren't you sweet," Eric replies at which point I relaxed my face, too tired to maintain my façade but kept a small amiable smile in place as I shrugged my shoulder and answered his observation with a tired 'sure' and turned my attention to Godric.

I asked if I could borrow his phone and I stepped outside the building when Godric handed me his phone so I can give him and Eric some privacy and I proceeded to call Sam. My conversation with Sam pertaining to the events that started out in Dallas went in circles since he was upset and I couldn't explain. In the end, I agreed to meet with Sam tomorrow at Merlotte's Bar and Grill to pick up a few things from him. Luckily for me, he's still holding on to the extra set of house key I gave him in case of emergencies. Of course, Sam wasn't happy with my resignation from my waitressing job at his restaurant and he was upset but he agreed to talk about it some more tomorrow when I drop by to pick up my last paycheck. I had some explaining to do with him and I was not looking forward to it.

After my phone call, Godric wanted to visit Eric's bar in Shreveport called Fangtasia. After cramming my frame into the back of Eric's red corvette, I asked whether or not the bar's name was his idea and apparently, it was. That had me pondering during the twenty-minute drive whether that spoke volumes about his sense of humor or not, while he and Godric filled in the gaps of their century apart.

The bar is what you would expect a vampire-themed Disney store would look like, artificially made to exaggerate the feel of a vampire's lair, at least the kind of lair the media has ingrained into the human minds. The colors are red and black throughout, with a podium in the middle of the dance floor and a dancer at the stripper pole on that podium. Half the bar's patrons were dressed much like the pole dancer; black, skin-tight leather, and leaves little to the imagination.

Eric led us to a nook against the wall which is opposite of the bar at the left side of the dancefloor--it was a perfect spot to view the entirety of the bar while being inconspicuous about it. However, it was still hard to go unnoticed considering Eric's presence within our group and from what I've picked up from the human frequenters, he was considered a big kahuna thanks to his good looks and his seniority within the vampire community.

Godric and Eric went on to talk amongst themselves in their shared language; I thought of pointing out to them that it's actually considered rude to do so when there's another person amongst them who can't understand what they're saying. Instead, I just took a moment to observe the place and listen in on people's thoughts to see if there were anything interesting they were secretly indulging on. I was surprised to learn that there were twelve more vampires in the vicinity, a couple currently on a blind date, another older couple visiting from what sounds like Germany, and a group of frat guys in the middle of their initiation. As I was eavesdropping on one of the frat guys named Brett's disturbing thoughts, a waitress came to our table to ask if we wanted anything to drink. Eric and Godric asked for AB positive, while I decided to experiment on a gin and tonic to see if I could get myself tipsy. Of course, the waitress took in our orders and left without another word-- I still have a slight color on me that was different from the pale characteristics vampires possess, so it was easy to assume that I'm human. Eric took notice of my order and seemed to properly look at me as a whole and realized how life still tinged my cheeks and skin incomparable to him and Godric.

When our drinks came and I proceeded to sip on mine, Eric's gaze on me was intense that it felt like he was touching my face rather than just looking. I could tell without reading his mind that I was an enigma to him and he was dying to unravel and understand me. The only reason I could think of as to why he's not nosing about on my business is because Godric wasn't divulging, and I'm starting to understand the kind of respect my maker predicates without him having to ask for it.

Before I said anything to Eric, the leather-clad dominatrix of a vampire carding humans at the door came to our table, bowing with respect to Godric. I could tell she wanted to tell Eric something but he had beat her to the punch to introduce me first.

"Pam this is Sookie, my new sister," I nodded my head to her which she mirrored in turn.

  
"Pam is my progeny," Eric added which surprised me. I pegged Eric more like the Brett type; an arrogant and self-absorbed frat. Although the big difference between them at the moment is Eric's acting like a good boy in front of his metaphorical father while Brett is planning on dropping some GHB on a brunette's drink.

"Nice to meet you Pam but will you excuse me for a minute," I got up from my seat smiling at Pam so I didn't come off as rude leaving right after being introduced. I made my way to the bar intending to block the brunette from the frat boy. I casually slid right next to the targetted brunette and called out another order of gin and tonic to the native American bartender with an unfriendly mug. I took a moment to casually look around the bar and turned to Brett on my right and smiled at him to pacify his negative thought towards me for blocking him from his victim, he returned my smile with a newfound interest.

"Hi! I'm Sookie!" I offer my hand along with a smile which I hope looked like I seemed interested in him.

  
"Brett, nice to meet you Cookie." Considering the loud atmosphere, I'd normally understand his proper lack of hearing but from what I'm reading from his thoughts-- he sincerely couldn't care less about my name and was focused playing an internal guessing game of my cup size.

  
"Brett, look me in the eye." I figured if I was gonna practice glamour, now's the best time as any since my subject's a complete jerk and completely deserving of what I've got planned for him. When he looked into my eyes, I got lost in his and found myself pushing my will into him.

  
"You will never harm any woman or child for as long as you live, will you Brett?" I don't think he's hurt a child before but I figured I'll just add that on for the heck of it.

  
"No, I would never," He replied in a trance.

  
"And you're drunk enough that you won't even remember that you're about to cup a feel on Jeff's crotch right?"

  
"Yes, I won't remember," He went on completely under my control.

  
"Good. Now go feel Jeff up and tomorrow, you won't remember a thing except that you will treat women and children with respect." I command with a smile considering the scene I'm about to be subjected to, and boy was it a show. Poor Brett's gonna be sporting a shiner when he wakes up but I figured a guy with his kind of thoughts needs to be punched at least once in his life.

I was smiling with a drink in my hand back to the table and with both Godric and Eric's eyes on me while Pam went off to escort Brett and Jeff's group out of the bar. Godric held a knowing smile and Eric was obviously entertained but a questioning brow shot up as I slid into the booth next to Godric.

  
"I heard him whispering to his friend about drugging the girl at the bar," I offered with a shrug.

  
"That's quite a hearing you've got there Sookie," Eric replied which I'm sure he was being sarcastic to some degree, although he didn't show it considering Godric's presence.

  
"Tell me about it," I shrugged indifferently but I could tell by the way Eric's looking at me that wheels were turning inside that head of his.

  
"I see you're enjoying your drink," He points out, watching me nurse my drink.

  
"I'm surprised you're not finding it...repulsive." He added when I didn't reply.

  
"Gin and tonic's still gin and tonic wherever and however you drink it, it won't magically taste better." I counter although I knew he was referring to vampires' aversion to any human consumption, but I figured I might as well pull his leg and play dumb to his inquisitions.

  
"And what a nice tan you have," he went on which I found amusing, he was starting to remind me of little red riding hood with me playing the part of the wolf.

  
"It's spray tan, to give the humans a false sense of security and make them think I'm human...you know to seem harmless?" I countered trying to get around his questions. I'm sure by now he realizes that I'm just gonna give him absurd answers till he moves on and leaves me alone.

  
"That's funny, I can't smell the chemicals on your skin."

  
"Well I am a vampire, my skin doesn't excrete hormones that corresponds to the chemical of the spray tan itself. At least that's what I assume, but I could be wrong...what do you think personally? Have you met other vampires that use tanning products?" I countered trying to b.s. my way around him, at which point Godric's looking at me with a big 'ol smile that displays his pearly whites which I took as his version of laughing at me. The look of my maker tugged something in me and I smiled at him, happy to put him in such a mood. Strangely enough, I found Eric with a matching smile, relaxing his position and leaning back comfortably and occupying the space around him, I found his stature fascinating.

 _'Ah, there he is! Yes...he is here tonight_.' A thought came loud and clear from behind me and I flinched from the sharp trill that accompanied that thought. It was loud and reverberating that it cut through the series of inner dialogues my mind was currently exposed and open to and a headache was forming, pounding its way into my head. The voice came to our table in a form of a petite redheaded woman wearing a gold long sleeve metallic dress and beige boots. I had to blink a few times and refocus on her face since her sharp attacking thoughts were discoloring my vision. For a moment she was faceless, except for a large lipless mouth full of sharp teeth and now I'm seeing her as a beautiful woman.

My head's pulsating in a dominating rhythm and with every beat it shifts my vision of her evolving face into something more angelic than a beat before.

  
_'I can feel it. Yes,_ _I_ _can taste it too._  
_He's much stronger than him. Yes, but she's tastier than they are. Yes, she tastes like one of those_.'

  
I scrambled out of my seat trying to catch my bearing by creating distance between us while gripping my head trying to prevent them from splitting in two. I look over to Godric and Eric and they're both in trance with their fangs out, and something was being vacuumed or sucked out of them. I couldn't bear to be near the woman, it's as if she's stuffing my mind with an audio feedback with each thought she projected and I couldn't even block her from my mind. Looking at her I realized that the mask she was using to cover her true self has somehow vanished and I'm now seeing her as I have before, a faceless creature with a large mouth with sharp teeth.

My instinct demand that I had to stop her before my head splits and without a thought except for my will, I pulled her hair and was intending to rip her head--the source of my mental distress-- off her body. It's as if she was made out of steel and she didn't even flinch from my attack, she just stood erect and I came to realize that she must be stronger than I am. I grabbed a chair and tried to smash her head with it and it just deflected off of her and broke in half.

With my gory craze for her blood and wanting to rip her to shreds, the patrons watched horrified of my actions and it's as if they just finally took notice of the creature I was trying to hurt and stampeded out of the bar in panic. Seeing as my efforts were in vain, I took a few steps back being shoved here and there by the frenzied crowd as Pam materialized next to me and pulled me up against her side and led me by the bar where it was vacant since the place was emptying out.

  
"What the fuck is going on?" Pam asks with distress in her voice seeing what's happening to both men, as the bartender's trying to do some damage to the creature but failing. I didn't have time to sit back and explain so I grabbed the metal stool and went for another round of attack to the creature which to some degree might have worked. I finally got her attention and she released Eric and Godric from whatever spell she possessed them with except now she turned her focus to me and I could feel all hope depleting. The more she took from me, the more I was falling down to a deeper, darker hole within me and I was getting lost in misery and anger. Godric and Eric seemed to have returned from whatever world they came from and they came with vengeance, trying to eradicate the creature but even with four vampires trying their best to subdue her, it was just not enough.

I reached out to her in anger, wanting to smash her face in one more time before she took too much from me. Putting all my anger and will behind one last attack against her monstrous face, white, hot, burst of concentrated energy shot out of my hand and onto her face. I smiled right before I fell forward giving in to my exhaustion as darkness engulfs me.

The last thing I saw before I fell is that I finally destroyed that bitch's face and I was happy about it.


	6. Promise

" _Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future,_  
_making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible._ "

-Hannah Arendt

  
An unfathomable sound lures me out of my dark and hazy slumber and my lethargic mind is slow to determine what I'm hearing till I came to realize that the soft and alluring notes were spoken words.

_...family. Until then don't lose hope, I'll visit you_. The voice tells me which at first I confused as my own till I realized that the message itself wasn't derived from my own thoughts. Then I heard other voices, muffled and distant compared to the melodic one that spoke in my head before. It took me a moment to realize that I'm hearing Godric's voice but my lazy mind couldn't be bothered to understand what he was saying or to whom he was talking to. At this moment, I am just a floating consciousness hearing and discerning, but not anchored to anything physical and therefore I didn't care about what was going on around me or if Godric was talking to me.

A disturbance in my equilibrium prompted me that I was floating but my momentary paralysis kept me from realizing that I was actually being carried somewhere. Once again, sleep was enticing me and I was all too willing to succumb into its arms till I felt something cool being pressed against my lips and something else trickling down my throat. Regaining the feeling of my physicality came to me as quickly as-- what I now understood as blood-- spread to my entirety and I was suddenly grounded and aware of my own flesh. I opened my eyes just as my maker commanded me to stop feeding by just saying 'enough', and seeing Godric's face comforted me even though I have forgotten why it did and what had gone on before the darkness.

"Now that you're awake dear sister, would you like to enlighten me about what just went on with your magic fingers?" Someone asked from my peripheral and I turned my head expecting to see Jason considering I was acknowledged as 'sister' but saw Eric instead.

_Right...that kind of sister_ , I thought before his words dawned on me and I slowly pieced together what had happened beforehand. Godric helped me sit up and I looked around only to find that our setting has changed to what looks like a storage type office.

"What was that creature?" I asked looking at Godric and Eric, taking note of Eric's intense determined look towards me.

"We're not sure but I know someone who's old enough that might know," Eric replied and his comment immediately had me thinking of someone who I also thought might have an idea because of his age-Jax. The only thing is I don't know his number and I didn't wanna be asking Godric for it just in case my asking might just open a can of worms that I wouldn't be able to explain or too lazy to explain; like why would I want to contact him.

_Maybe I could look him up or Facebook him?_ I sighed thinking Facebook might be a stretch, I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait for Eric's contact.

"Did you guys try Googling the creature?" I suggested just in case they haven't thought of looking her up online yet.

"Yes and we found nothing," Eric replied. Not only did that stump my plans but I thought it's actually cool that someone as old as Eric proficiently uses technology and seems to rely on it to some degree.

"Whatever she was, she had an unusual...anatomy," Eric went on which caught my attention and I noticed that Godric didn't seem at all surprised.

"How do you know?" I asked assuming they weren't just talking about her face.

"When Longshadow had to clean up the mess you've made out of her body, we noticed that her blood wasn't spilled and she didn't have the same brain matter as humans do. So naturally we decided to chop her up and we noticed that she didn't have innards of any kind, or bones for that matter. The only thing that was holding her form together was a red jelly-like goo." Eric explained and I figured that Longshadow must be the bartender.

"Well, that must've been something to see," I replied to Eric perturbed about the creature we encountered and the casual mention of dismantling her body.

"She might be a demon trying to glamour us," Godric mentions after some time.

"That seems like a possibility, it did feel like I  was under some sort of spell and I started feeling...things," Eric added agreeing with Godric's theory.

"From what I heard, she was feeding on you guys...and me too I guess, and your faces were distorted like she was sucking a part of yourselves. I heard her talking and replying to herself as if she were schizophrenic talking about how good we tasted to her." Godric pondered on what I had said and he agreed and added how he also saw the same thing happening to me.

"What do you mean you heard her?" Eric asked and by the look of him, I could tell that he was determined to unravel whatever mysteries I've kept from him--I guess he's the type who can't stand unsolved puzzles. I looked at Godric, silently asking if Eric could be trusted with my secret and with a nod from my maker I told Eric that I could read minds except for vampires. Eric seems delighted about what I've said and I'm not exactly sure if he was happy because he knows that I'm a faery or because I wouldn't be able to read his mind.

"I've encountered a psychic once, she was absolutely intoxicating," Eric told me his smile still in place. And from what I've gathered from what he has said, it's safe to assume that he might not know about my actual origin.

"I'm sure she thought you were too," I replied masking my sarcasm with a small smile.

"And you smell like her too actually although your scent is not as intense as hers...but it doesn't really matter how light it is, the smell of a fairy is always enticing and hard to forget." Eric went on with a grin plastered on his smug face.

Godric recounted to Eric the tale of how we met and the following events that led to me becoming a vampire, although the tale took a while to tell since Eric would occasionally throw some playful euphemisms my way.

Eric made arrangements-- per Godric's request-- to have someone drive me to Bon Temps in the morning.

That someone came in a five foot ten frame and gruffly introduced himself as Bobby Burnham. He was a sturdy man in biker attire with black leather jacket, sunglasses, bandana, and an untamed beard to boot and he was no fan of mine. I tried to be as amiable as I can towards him and even made some casual positive observation at the beginning of our trip. But after I heard him internally refer to me as a 'fangbanger', I had shut my mouth and went on to privately mull over the feminine voice that had woken me up after my collapse.

Conjuring up the memory of how the voice sounded like in my head proved tougher than I thought. First of all, I don't even remember what the voice sounded like, it was spoken right into my head that for a moment I thought it was my own since that kind of encounter doesn't happen often with me. Although it has happened these past two days in a row...it's like I suddenly became a beacon device to faes around me and now I'm either running into them or they're seeking me out.

That's another thing I had to think about, a fae woman sought me out and was within my telepathic proximity despite the fact that I was surrounded by vampires and I happen to be half of one too. Thinking back on her message I remembered she mentioned family, and visiting me...I wonder if she was some sort of long lost cousin I've never met before. Well, I guess I'm to expect a fae visitor sometime soon, the question I'm now left with is when?

I decided to avoid the lunch crowd and entered Merlotte's through the back where Bobby dropped me off. I ran into Holly, the new girl who was meant to replace me and had asked her if she could call Sam for me while I wait for him in his office. She seemed like a genuinely nice person and although I've never met her before, she was internally glad to know that I'm not hurt in any way which was speculated amongst the patrons when I was M.I.A. The only damper with her was that I knew from the moment she went through the back hallway, that she was gonna let everyone know just how glad she was for my well-being and just where to find me if anyone else wanted to check on me.

I felt Sam's indecision before he came into his office, he was hopping mad and relieved and I'm getting a general idea that he wasn't sure if he wanted to chastise or hug me--but when he walked through the door, he chose to ream me. I have never seen Sam angry or lash out at anyone before, and considering the amount of respect I'd always had for him my eyes got teary.

"...I thought you were hauled off somewhere only to be raped and even murdered! Do you have any idea what I had went through reporting you missing to the police and to call your grandmother too! Jason was upset!" Sam must've realized when he mentioned Gran that he might've been overreacting and might've been harsh on me considering Gran's recent passing. He turned away from me breathing hard, bowed, with his hands on his desk most likely trying to clear his mind since his mood was calming down. Sam was one of those rare ones that I couldn't properly hear what he's thinking but I can sense his emotions unless he touched me-- cause then everything he'd be thinking would come at me loud and clear.

"I'm sorry cher, I didn't mean to lay one on you. I know you ain't the type to just vanish without an explanation, and I'm sorry about your grandma," he sighed finally calming down with disapproving contentment creeping up on him, replacing his anger.

"I'm sorry too Sam, I didn't mean to just leave you hanging like that. I told you that I meant to call you the night before, I just...accidentally got roped into some trouble." I told him trying to decide whether or not to tell him about my new supernatural status as a vampire. Sam and I have always had an understanding friendship that was borne out of respect for each other that went beyond our professional relationship. He has always known about my disability and he hasn't treated me any differently, although his attraction for me might have something to do with that. With the mention of the word trouble, Sam looked at me properly with some trepidation.

"You told me that...what happened to you Sook? What kind of trouble did you get into?"

I went on to tell Sam what had happened with the drainers...at least from the perspective I was filled in on thanks to Godric since I apparently still couldn't remember what had happened. I told Sam of my vampire maker mixed with my faery origin which causes my daywalking, Jason's senseless aggravation with me and even the strange creature encountered at Fantasia just last night. Of course, I didn't tell him about Leonard and Jax since I'm not one to indulge in other people's business and I was absolutely ashamed of how I had treated Leonard.

"Well...fuck Sook," was all Sam could say afterward which I thought was properly put.

After taking comfort from the familiarity Sam had offered with his words and his presence, he gave me back the keys he held for me for Gran's house along with my last paycheck. I accepted his offer to take me back home since Jason had taken my car back to Gran's when I didn't come back from Dallas with Sam.

When I finally got home, I'd set out to cleaning and scrubbing down the house from top to bottom to keep my emotions from running rampant. It didn't really take long as I thought it would considering how much I was vamping all over the place. After I was done I went ahead and packed clothes I planned on taking with me back to Dallas and some I took upstairs to the attic.

I called Jason and left a message since the hospital had called in to let me know that Gran's death certificate should already be on its way and should arrive either tomorrow or Tuesday. I searched Gran's room looking to see if she had a burial plan tucked safely somewhere but found nothing. That undid it for me and I laid in Gran's yellow quilted sleigh bed and cried missing her, feeling lost and alone in her house which I suppose is mine now. I reflected on insignificant memories I had of Gran around the house, like the apron she always wore just to wash the dishes or the lavender mint oil she always rubbed on her hands whenever it was cold out. I found it hard to grasp that a week ago I had just kissed her cheek as a way to say goodbye before I left with Sam to Dallas for the Food Expo. And now, a week later I'm planning her wake and I have to cremate her since I couldn't afford the funeral expenses and she didn't prepare for one since not one of us thought that her life was gonna be taken away. Somewhere along my contemplation, I remembered that Gran used to hide some cash in a box under her bed that Jason had found and would occasionally 'borrow' from as a teenager.

Considering as I've never actually seen Jason take anything from Gran's room, I'm basically just relying on his word that she keeps things hidden under the bed. I went through a few boxes full of photographic memories and some wonderfully spoken letters and thoughtful cards Gran has received from Grandpa Earl and friends she's kept in touch with over the years. I was getting sucked into a rabbit hole of emotions and past experiences expressed through the written words when a dust covered wooden box had toppled over. The sound was slight but with my heightened hearing I could tell that it landed on a hollowed floorboard which I went on to investigate. After some prying and with a help of a letter opener, I found a box inside a makeshift hidey hole and I immediately took note of the amount of dust accumulated on the box and its surrounding. Something about finding an old hidden box excited something in me, awakening my inner child as if reliving my imagined pirate adventures; after all, every kid at one point in their lives went through a phase where they wanted to discover a treasure. However, that feeling quickly went south towards disappointment after seeing a rolled up paper inside, written in a language I couldn't place or understand.

I had no idea how long I sat on Gran's bedroom floor, marinating in bleak disappointment waiting to find the motivation to get myself up and clean up the mess I've made around me when a simple thought occurred. Maybe Jax would understand what this scroll's language is. I vamped around the room cleaning, dusting, and packing up what I wanted to take with me to Dallas and took the rest to the attic before I showered and changed to my own jeans and sweater and finally settled at the breakfast table with my phone. I didn't really know how to go about searching for an ancient hybrid being who has kept himself bare from the digital world so I decided to call the operator first. I tried Macklyn Warlow but apparently no one had that name, so then I tried Jax Warlow instead, and the only Jax Warlow they found in Texas had a Houston number which I went ahead and had them connect me to anyway. While the phone rang, I glanced at the clock and found that it was already five 'o six in the afternoon which means Jax should be either done with his daily errands or finishing up.

"Hello?" Jax's baritone voice cut through my reverie as confidently as his walk-- which I was currently picturing in exaggerated detail in my head. I had to clear my throat before I said anything just so he won't detect the kind of thoughts I'm having from hearing my voice.

"Jax? it's Sookie,"

"Sookie, what a nice surprise, I'm happy you sought me out. Is there anything you need or are you just calling simply for pleasure." Jax asked and I couldn't help relishing on his voice.

"I've got about a hundred questions actually...do you have time?" I asked.  
"Of course, I'm just now heading home actually. What's up?"   
"I might've found something quite old at my Gran's house, some sort of parchment actually, and it's written in a strange language. I was wondering if you might know something about it considering... you know, you've been around?" I told Jax not really wanting to call him old since that would've been just outright rude. He chuckled in response probably thinking along the same lines except he doesn't seem to mind.

"Why don't you go ahead and send me the picture so I can take a look?" Jax suggested, which I told him to hold on while I did just that and sent it to him while he's still on the phone since I told him I had another question for him. While he waited to receive the picture, I went on to tell him about the trouble we had in Fangtasia and the kind of creature that had caused it. He was quiet for a while, hopefully deliberating over the creature till I heard him sigh.

"Sorry Sookie but I'm running blank on what had attacked y'all. You sure do attract all sort of trouble don't you?" despite Jax's words, I could still detect a smile on his face along with what he had said.

"I guess I do, are you trouble Jax?" I asked not really sure if I meant to flirt with him or not. Although to some degree I was dead serious since I'm tired of trouble knocking on my door this past week alone. Lord knows what other kind of trouble he has left for me, and I wasn't about to sit back and find out.

"No Sookie, I promise you I won't be...not like that at least, I'm sure whatever trouble I'll come up with you'll enjoy. But I'd rather you figure that one out on your own. Hold on a minute, I might've just received your message." Jax put me on hold and I found it fascinating that I could actually tell just by hearing that he's going through his phone. I heard Jax make an undescriptive noise that sounded positive to me --at least from what I'm assuming. He came back on the phone sounding pleased and in good spirits which in turn lifted my mood.

"I can actually tell you that not only do I know what that document is but I know exactly who wrote it and when." Jax went on lightheartedly and I had a feeling that I might just have figured it out too by just using the context clues he provided.  
"Can I take a guess then?" I asked infected by his liveliness and when he answered with a sure, I coyly went on to first asking if my grandmother wrote it-which I already know she didn't before he said as much.  
"You know I'm only kidding right? I'm guessing it's the marriage contract you and my great ancestor Niall wrote apropos to me?" I say in absolute surety which he rewarded with another deep chuckle that did something in me.  
"Yes Sookie it is, it's valium written in our mixed blood and completely indestructible except for Niall and me, we're the only two who can destroy that contract so till that day happens, I'm sorry to say that you'll be mine...someday."

"Someday, but not anytime soon" I reminded him, glad that he reinforced his statement from the day before about not forcing me into anything rash.

"By the way, I meant to ask you about something," I remembered as an afterthought realizing I haven't slept in days.  
"I figured...you did say that you had about a hundred of 'em." He dramatically sighed out loud although I doubt he really cared.  
"Oh I'm sorry, I should probably let you go then, I didn't mean to be a bother and now I've taken up all your precious time. You probably made plans already so I'll let you go," I went on even though I was nowhere near hanging up, just wanted to mess with him and judging by the way he's laughing, he was messing with me too.  
"Don't you dare do that, I was obviously kidding. I'm happy you called me Sook...it's nice to hear your voice." His laughter died and I didn't miss how his voice lowered and turned serious which I didn't know how to react to so I cleared my throat and went on with my question.

"I've noticed I haven't slept in days...well since I actually woke up as a vampire. Is that normal? I'm not tired at all and I'm not sure if I should force myself to sleep."  
"It's normal...but it's best if you force yourself to sleep cause it'll come back to bite you in the ass if you don't. Not that you'll die or anything but you'll definitely feel morose and get angry. There's a trick to it actually...try meditating while you're lying down and empty your mind, that trick works for me every time." Jax offered which I took to heart and promised him I would try whenever I get the chance to.

After some playful banter and light flirting from the both of us, we said our goodbyes and hung up the phone since there was a knock on the door. I checked the time on my way to the foyer to see if it's possibly my maker was at the door and saw that he might be since it's already six thirty-nine in the evening. Time sure went by fast.

I smelled it before I even opened the door and the only way to describe it was intoxicating. I found myself inhaling as deeply as my lungs can expand and tried to commit the smell to memory. I opened the door and I was greeted with the smell of roses, sunshine, and water; and it came together to create something clean, fresh, and sweet. When I opened my eyes I saw a tall slender woman with black wavy hair and her beauty encompassed her stature-- she was definitely something to behold. I could tell from her shell-shocked expression that she might not have been expecting me and was about to make a run for it, although I couldn't really blame her considering the manner I greeted her with; like a fanged hungry hippo. I meant to assuage her with a smile but her smell reminded me that I haven't fed or eaten at all today and hunger consumed me and it felt like getting hit immediately with a painful stomach ulcer. Before she could escape I grabbed her arms binding them to her side and knocked us both down as I pierced my fangs into her jugular.

I couldn't hold back the noises I was making as I indulged myself on this woman's blood which I'm sure has ruined me cause I would never be able to feed on any other blood after this. The relief I felt was instantaneous and her blood was humming inside, calling out to me in the most orgasmic way that it thrilled me in ways I never thought could be possible. For a moment, time stood still and I felt a strange electricity not only in me but all around me. Power surge within me and it's as if I understood all and saw not only the world around me but saw it as if I stood at the edge of the universe, witnessing the creation of the cosmos. My earthly body left somewhere behind me along with my petty problems and narrow-mindedness that it all seem so inessential at this point.

Something was tugging the back of my neck and I hear a voice calling me back to the world I'm willing to abandon. There it is again, another tug but I wasn't ready to give up watching the scene unfolding before me. A ball of light or energy so hot and bright was before me and I'm surprised It hasn't burned or blinded me. Streaks of energy were being shot out from the great light and creating planets wherever it touches in the space around it. The great light was calling me, beckoning me to listen without words and the longer I gazed at it the more I understood as if an invisible link was holding us together and I knew it understood me too. The great light filled me with shame, hope, forgiveness, and peace-feelings that were molded into one; as if it was rewarding me with the promise I had offered to it. The promise I offered were spoken in the same way as it has to me, which is showing without words and knowing without thoughts, just simply feeling and understanding. I promised to never give in to my bloodlust again and hoped for the strength to keep my word, and as soon as the great light acknowledged what I declared, I got sucked back into my body. I released my fangs from the woman's neck and felt my maker pull me back as I saw her body disintegrate into glittering ashes.

_Fudge, I hope that didn't count as breaking my promise._


End file.
